Another stop for Gopher: Duncan Gilbert heads to Lehigh Valley at 40

Duncan “Gopher” Gilbert has a new address at 40. The right-hander signed a one-year, $16 million deal with Lehigh Valley on December 17, adding the Sentinels to a PABL itinerary that already includes Jamaica, Atlanta, Florida, Colorado and New York.

The first stop still supplies the biggest number. Gilbert completed 17 of his 34 starts for Jamaica in 2036, the league’s single-season record. He threw 279⅔ innings that year, then won 22 games and completed another 14 in 2037. In those two seasons alone, 31 starts ended without a handoff to the bullpen.

The years since have not been a straight line. His public injury history records torn flexor tendons in 2040 and 2042, with projected absences of 10 and 11 months. His PABL ledger has no innings for 2040 and only 94⅓ for Colorado in 2042.

Then came 2043: 27 starts, 170⅓ innings and a 3.33 ERA for the Gargoyles. Gilbert struck out 138 and walked 35. He finished one game himself—a different workload from those Jamaica summers, but plenty of pitching beyond the record book.

Across his PABL career, Gilbert has 82 wins, a 3.26 ERA and 47 complete games in 1,307 innings. Lehigh Valley’s new signing brings that history with him. His most recent season supplies something less nostalgic: a full set of numbers from a pitcher still taking his turn.