Mariners prospect George Kirby is on the mound in Tacoma and pitching ‘with a lot of intent’
With about seven weeks remaining this summer to play intrasquad games and work out at Cheney Stadium, Mariners prospect George Kirby will have chances to sharpen all of his pitches.
He will get opportunities to meet the marks he’s set — like producing more sidespin with his changeup, more speed differentiation between his changeup and fastball, finding more consistency with his slider and getting better results against left-handed batters.
Kirby will see how his pitches play against some of Seattle’s up-and-coming hitters, like top prospect Jarred Kelenic, and get plenty of feedback from others participating in camp at the team’s alternate training site in Tacoma.
But, for now, Seattle’s organization is excited to see its top draft pick from last year back on the mound.
Kirby, a 22-year-old right-hander, pitched in his first intrasquad game of the summer last week, throwing about 20 pitches and sitting between 97-99 mph with his fastball.
“It was definitely good to get back on the mound and face a hitter,” Kirby said on a video call with reporters last week. “It’s been a while. I was happy with the pitches I made. … Just putting little pieces together. I thought I did well for my first time out there.”
Kirby was in minor league camp in Arizona when spring training was canceled in March due to COVID-19 concerns and, like others, did what he could to stay in shape during the three-month shutdown.
He said he returned to Elon University — the North Carolina school the Mariners drafted him out of at No. 20 overall in 2019 — for more than a month during that period to work with his former pitching coach and throw bullpens.
When he went back home to New York, one of the primary hotspots when the pandemic first swept the nation, options to continue baseball activities were few.
“I had a couple teammates from Elon that live in that area, so I was throwing with them,” he said. “I got a bunch of equipment from one of my cousins’ gyms, so I made a little gym in my driveway. I didn’t have access to a lot of facilities, so I was doing a lot on my own.”
He threw weighted baseballs into a concrete wall at his house, and played catch with his dad some.
He also used the downtime to continue to get in better shape, running a mile or two each morning or working on sprints, and supplementing exercise with a good eating habits. Since last season, he said he’s dropped about 20-25 pounds and was working on getting “more lean and cut.”
“Now I’m trying to focus on putting more healthy weight back on,” he said. “I just spent a lot of time running and eating healthy and getting after it in the weight room.”
He said the work has made him feel more loose on the mound, and has helped with arm recovery between outings.
“Just being more lean I think helps with recovery for sure,” he said.
Because of his slower ramp up during the shutdown, Kirby did not pitch in an intrasquad game during the three-week summer camp with the Mariners in Seattle, but still gained valuable insight being around the club’s big leaguers.
“Just having guys like (Kendall) Graveman or (Marco) Gonzales watching your pen, and just having the feedback they can provide, for me that was pretty helpful,” he said. “And just watching them go about their business, too, was good to see. You get to see their work ethic and then just try to follow that.”
Kirby is scheduled to throw again in Tacoma this week, and could get close to 10 appearances in intrasquad games this summer.
In his final season with Elon in 2019, he finished 8-2 with a 2.75 ERA in 14 starts, and a true command pitcher, struck out 107 batters — nearly a third of the batters he faced — while walking just six across 88 1/3 innings.
He continued that production in a brief nine games (eight starts) with Short-A Everett last summer, compiling a 2.35 ERA with 25 strikeouts and no walks.
Without a minor league season, Kirby won’t have the opportunity to build off that first professional season against other clubs, but said he wants to spend this time in Tacoma preparing for 2021.
“It’s been a weird time for sure, but I’m just throwing every day with a lot of intent,” he said. “Keeping my arm in shape is the key for now.”
