The Seattle Mariners entered the second half of the season holding a playoff spot but still trying to chase down the Houston Astros in the American League West.

After Derby win, Raleigh focused on Seattle Mariners’ 2nd-half push

It was an up and down first half for the Mariners. They opened the season 3-7 before rattling off a run of nine straight series win to take the division lead. But a rough stretch starting in late May allowed the Astros to jump ahead in the AL West.

The Mariners capped the first half with a road trip that encapsulated their season well, suffering a rough three-game sweep against the New York Yankees and bouncing back with a three-game sweep of the MLB-leading Detroit Tigers.

With the Mariners attempting to put together a playoff push in the second half, co-host Michael Bumpus and producer Curtis Rogers picked their most important Mariners of the second half during Bump and Stacy. The caveat was that neither could pick Cal Raleigh, who leads MLB with 38 home runs.

Rogers and Bumpus also ended up steering clear of perhaps the most obvious pick in center fielder Julio Rodríguez, who had his share of struggles at the plate before closing the first half on a high note in Detroit.

For Rogers, the answer was starting pitcher Logan Gilbert.

“It’s not that Logan Gilbert’s been bad this season, but he has not been the efficient innings-eater that he has been in his career,” Rogers said. “He has been generating a lot of strikeouts, but I think that’s come at a cost of his pitch count rising earlier in games than what it’s been. And also coming off of the injury, he missed a good chunk of the season, so still maybe working his way back a little bit.”

Gilbert missed extended time with a right elbow flexor strain suffered in late April. The right-hander had a 3.39 ERA and 1.049 WHIP in 12 starts this year. However, he’s pitched just 61 innings, has only one quality start and hasn’t gone six innings in six starts since returning from injured list.

Gilbert led MLB with 208 2/3 innings pitched and was second with 22 quality starts while posting a 3.23 ERA during an All-Star 2024 campaign.

“A lot of people kind of looked at him as maybe a Cy Young candidate this season. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Rogers said. “I look at Logan Gilbert and it’s like, man, you are supposed to be the ace of this staff this season, and I think Bryan Woo’s performance this year – no fault of Logan Gilbert – but Bryan Woo I think is the guy who everybody would want taking the ball in sort of any win-or-go-home scenario right now.

“But I’m looking at Logan Gilbert right now, Bump, and I’m saying you need to start getting deeper into games. You need to go at least six, you need to get into the seventh the way that you have done for the majority of your career.”

Bumpus went with an outside-the-box pick for his key Mariner of the second half, naming outfielder Dominic Canzone.

“The reason I go Dom is because I feel like Randy (Arozarena) has arrived. He’s going to be consistent throughout the season,” Bumpus said. “I feel like Julio is heading in the right direction. Let’s go get it. And obviously J.P. (Crawford) is good to go, and Cal is who he is. You just need somebody at the bottom of that order to do something.”

Canzone earned a promotion from Triple-A on June 9 after a strong start to the year with the Rainiers. The left-handed-hitting outfielder has put together his best stretch in the majors since as Seattle’s option in right field against left-handed pitching.

Canzone is batting .319 with a .904 OPS and six home runs in just 30 games. He’s reduced his strikeout rate to 17.5% after posting a 28.2% clip in 67 games last season. And Canzone is tied for third on the team with a 91.7-mph average exit velocity, trailing only Raleigh and Arozarena.

“When he hits the ball, he hits the ball hard, man,” Bumpus said. “He squares it up and he does his thing.”

Canzone’s playing time could ultimately be impacted by what the Mariners do at the trade deadline, but Rogers still sees a valuable role for him if that were the case.

“If he can produce like this as your fourth outfielder and as a guy who could maybe take some hacks at the DH spot, than that is going to be key for this Mariners team for sure, because it adds another bat to the lineup,” Rogers said.

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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