George Kirby (baseball)

George Joseph Kirby (born February 4, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022.

Amateur career
Kirby grew up a fan of the New York Yankees in Westchester County, New York. He attended Rye High School in Rye, where he played both baseball and basketball. As a sophomore baseball player in 2014, he threw 153 pitches in the NYSPHSAA Section 1 Class A championship game to beat Lakeland High School. Elon University began recruiting him to play college baseball in 2014. After his junior season in 2015, he was named to the New York State Sportswriters Association's All-State First Team for Class A as a pitcher and first baseman and The Journal News Westchester/Putnam All-Star First Team alongside Josiah Gray. As a senior in 2016, he went 6–0 with a 0.32 ERA and 73 strikeouts in $43 1/3$ innings and was again named to the All-State First Team. Although expected to be an early pick in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, he fell to the New York Mets in the 32nd round because of signability concerns. He chose not to sign with the Mets and instead chose to attend Elon to play college baseball for the Elon Phoenix.

As a freshman at Elon in 2017, Kirby appeared in 16 games (five starts) and pitched to a 1–3 record with a 4.84 ERA, striking out 55 batters in $61 1/3$ innings. He was named to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Rookie Team. In 2018, as a sophomore, Kirby appeared and started in 15 games, going 10–3 with a 2.89 ERA and 96 strikeouts in $90 1/3$ innings. He earned a spot on the All-CAA Second Team. After the season, Kirby played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Harwich Mariners where he posted a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings. Prior to the 2019 season, Kirby was named a preseason All-American by both Baseball America and Perfect Game. He was named the 2019 CAA Pitcher of the Year after going 8–2 with a 2.75 ERA in 14 starts, striking out 107 batters and walking only six in $88 1/3$ innings.

Minor Leagues
Considered to be one of the top prospects for the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, Kirby was drafted by the Seattle Mariners with the 20th overall pick. He signed with Seattle for $3.24 million. After signing, he was assigned to the Everett AquaSox of the Class A Short Season Northwest League, with whom he spent all of the 2019 season. Over nine games (eight starts), Kirby compiled a 2.35 ERA, striking out 25 over 23 innings. Kirby did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To begin 2021, he returned to Everett, now members of the High-A West. In August, he was promoted to the Arkansas Travelers of the Double-A Central. Over 15 starts between the two clubs, Kirby compiled a 5–3 record and 2.53 ERA, striking out eighty batters over $67 2⁄3$ innings. Kirby returned to Arkansas to open the 2022 season.

2022
On May 8, 2022, the Mariners selected Kirby's contract and promoted him to the major leagues. He made his MLB debut that day as the starting pitcher versus the Tampa Bay Rays, and threw six scoreless innings in which he struck out seven batters.

On August 24, 2022, while pitching against the Washington Nationals, Kirby set an MLB record by throwing 24 consecutive strikes to start the game, the most by a major league pitcher since 1988. The previous record was set by Joe Musgrove in 2018 with 21 consecutive strikes.

He made his Postseason debut on October 8, 2022, in the Mariners 10-9 win over the Blue Jays in the 2nd and final game of the Wild Card Series. He came out of the bullpen to close out the game and the series in the bottom of the 9th. He gave up a one out walk to Matt Chapman, then retired the next two hitters to seal the game for the Mariners and advance them to the ALDS. His next Postseason appearance came in that ALDS against Houston, this time Seattle was down in the series two games to zero, and facing elimination. This time around, Kirby got the opportunity to start the game, and he pitched very good. He tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out five and walking none. He was pulled from the game prior to the 8th inning, with the score tied 0-0. The game remained tied going into the 18th inning, which set an MLB playoff record (broke the record set only a few days before in a game between Cleveland and Tampa Bay). The Mariners used nine more pitchers that game after Kirby, and the Astros didn't score until rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena's solo home run off of Mariners reliever Penn Murfee broke the tie and gave the Astros the lead, which they held on to.

Kirby finished 6th in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022.

2023
Through his first fourteen starts of the 2023 season, he had 75 strikeouts and six walks in 87 2/3 innings for an MLB-leading 12.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Kirby was named to his first All-Star game in 2023, joining the team as a replacement for the injured Shane McClanahan. He got to appear in front of his home fans in Seattle in the All-Star game, where he pitched the 4th inning, allowing two hits and one run. He is one of only two graduates of Rye High School (New York) to make an MLB All-Star Game, with the other being B.J. Surhoff.

After a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, September 8, 2023, Kirby openly criticized his manager Scott Servais for leaving him in the game past the 6th inning. The next day, he apologized to Servais, saying "Skip, that's not who I am".

On September 26, 2023, Kirby was hit by a baseball that was thrown onto the field by a fan sitting behind the third base side dugout. The fan, who was wearing a jersey of Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic, was promptly identified and removed from the stadium by security.

During Kirby's final start of the 2023 regular season on October 1, 2023, facing Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager in the 4th inning, he tossed the first (and only to this point) knuckleball of his MLB career. He did this to honor the legacy of former Red Sox and Pirates pitcher Tim Wakefield, who had passed away earlier that day, who was famous for being a knuckleball pitcher. Kirby, who grew up a Yankees fan, always respected Wakefield, saying after the game "I always loved watching that guy pitch. even though he's a Red Sox player and I'm a born Yankees fan." The Mariners catcher who caught the pitch, Cal Raleigh, grew up a Red Sox fan.

Kirby finished the 2023 season with a 13-10 record and a 3.35 ERA across 31 starts and 190.2 innings. He struck out 172 batters, while walking a minuscule 19 batters. He led all of the Major Leagues in Walks Per 9 Innings (BB9) and Strikeout to Walk Ratio (SO/BB) with a 0.9 and a 9.05, respectively.