Mariners pitcher George Kirby shut down due to shoulder inflammation
PEORIA, Ariz. — The Mariners vaunted rotation, which many consider the best in MLB, will be without one of its best performers.
The Mariners called an impromptu news conference early Friday afternoon for general manager Justin Hollander to announce that George Kirby has been shut down from throwing due to shoulder inflammation. Kirby is expected to start the season, which begins March 27, on the injured list.
“George Kirby has not been feeling great after his outings,” Hollander said Friday. “In the outings, he is throwing the ball well — same velocity as you would expect. He just hasn’t felt like he’s bouncing back great.”
The Mariners had Kirby undergo an MRI to see what was causing the discomfort. It showed only the inflammation.
“No structural concerns whatsoever.,” Hollander said. “And I will repeat that, zero structural concerns. There is some inflammation in there that we need to get out.”
Kirby’s normal turn in the rotation would’ve been Wednesday vs. the Royals, but Bryce Miller made the start. Seattle had hoped he would start Friday night vs. the Dodgers, but they decided to not take any chances with Kirby’s health.
“Much to George’s chagrin, we are going to take the ball out of his hands,” Hollander said. “George wants to keep going, but he’s going to lose this argument. we need the inflammation out. So we will shut George down and work on getting the inflammation out.”
Kirby has dealt with shoulder discomfort and inflammation before in his career. During the summer camp in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he didn’t feel great coming out of a bullpen session and was shut down for a month. After his first eight starts in the 2021 season for Everett, he was placed on the injured list with shoulder fatigue/discomfort and returned a month later to pitch for Double-A Arkansas.
“This is more like a week-to-week thing than a day-to-day thing,” Hollander said. “We want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for the big picture of the whole season as opposed to worrying about opening day.”
Having dealt with the situation before, Kirby lobbied to keep throwing. He was overruled by multiple people in the organization and his reps at CAA Sports.
“I didn’t have to do it, thankfully, but there were multiple people who had to tell him,” Hollander said. “From what I understood, his treatment option was, ‘Do nothing. Keep pitching. I’m fine.’ I think about after the fifth conversation George got on board with that.”
Kirby made 33 starts last season, posting a 14-11 record with a 3.53 ERA. In 191 innings pitched, he struck out 179 batters and walked only 22. He spent the offseason working on a cut fastball that was going to play off his two-seam sinking fastball.
“He’s a super competitive guy,” Hollander said. “That’s what makes him who he is. Like most of the great pitchers in the league, he wants the ball. He wants it every five days, and he wants to go make 32 starts. You know, that’s hard for guys to accept, but this is 100% the right thing to do.”
Right-hander Emerson Hancock will slide into Kirby’s spot in the rotation. As the sixth starter on the Mariners organizational depth chart, Hancock was inserted into the rotation on last season’s opening day roster when Bryan Woo was forced to start the season on the injured list with forearm inflammation.
He was called up three more times from Tacoma as a rotation substitute, including the final month of the season when Luis Castillo went on the injured list with a hamstring strain.
Hancock made 12 MLB starts last season, posting a 4-4 record with a 4.75 ERA.
“As far as Emerson is concerned, this is a luxury that we have in some ways,” said manager Dan Wilson. “We saw it toward the end of last year, when (Castillo) had the hamstring injury, Emerson came up, and pitched two really good ballgames for us. He’s had a good camp so far down here in spring training. We’re excited that he’s able to fill that spot right now. I know he’s excited about it as well.”