Evans shows great maturity with Gilbert's guidance

This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TACOMA, Wash. -- One day after he was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma in a somewhat surprising move, at least for its timing, Logan Evans spoke with positivity about his first stint in the Majors -- and about management’s decision to send him down less than 24 hours after he twirled arguably the best start for a Mariners pitcher this season.

“I understand it,” Evans said at Tacoma's Cheney Stadium. “But I think I also proved to everybody in that front office, and even the fans, that I belong there. I’ll be back soon.”

The rookie’s maturity has been maybe even more impressive than his results, especially the candor with which Evans has spoken -- understanding his role on the big league roster, that there’s still player development in front of him and that not all dreams come to fruition at once.

“There's no toxic way of going about it,” Evans said. “Everybody's so dialed in on their work, but also so supportive of each other. Like, we've all bounced stuff off of each other, which I thought was really cool.”

Evans surrendered just one run in that 9-1 win vs. the Nationals to lower his ERA to 2.83 in six starts, of which the Mariners won four. And he needed just 88 pitches to clear the eighth inning, a mark that no Mariners pitcher has reached this season.

Injuries and the early stage of the schedule have played a part in the latter component, but still, the fact that it was their No. 10 prospect by MLB Pipeline -- who didn’t exactly have the best Spring Training -- speaks to how far he’s come.

If anyone can attest, it’s Logan Gilbert, who was also in Tacoma on Thursday when making his first rehab start as he works back from a mild right elbow flexor strain. The two formed a bond in Spring Training -- Evans’ first big league camp -- and it flourished while Gilbert has been rehabbing for the past month.

“He's comfortable, and he knows he's good,” Gilbert said after throwing 45 pitches over 1 2/3 innings for the Rainiers on Thursday. “He's not saying that, but he carries himself really well. And that took me a while [as a rookie] in '21 to feel like I was good enough.

“That's really something I tried to tell him. But also, you see it from him naturally. He knows his stuff is good enough to play at that level, and I don't want him to ever doubt that. And to see that success early on, I think that gives him a good foothold.”

For Gilbert, the relationship with Evans also speaks to his flourishing leadership.

He offered the same guidance in 2023 when Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo were called up for the first time, but obviously, Gilbert carries even more of a pedigree than he did back then. He’s now an All-Star, one of the sport’s most productive starters -- and an embodiment of what the franchise adores about its best players.

“I'm trying to get everybody comfortable,” Gilbert said. “Everybody is plenty good. It's not like I have to say anything or do anything, but I just want people to know like they belong, they're comfortable, they're part of us. That's what I wanted to feel like.

"And I think [Evans] got that message and just took it and ran with it, because whatever your personality is, whatever you want to do out there, who you want to be in the clubhouse, just be yourself.”