Seattle Mariners Pitcher on Pace For Historic Season
The starting pitching rotation of the Seattle Mariners has received league-wide recognition this season and received more on Sunday when Logan Gilbert was named to his first-ever All-Star Game. The Mariners have a couple other former All-Stars on their staff. One of them is George Kirby — who's on a historic pace this season.
In Sunday's 5-4 extra-inning loss against the Toronto Blue Jays, Kirby went six innings and struck out eight batters while walking one. When his outing wrapped up — his strikeout-per-walk ratio this season stood at 9.91. The best in the league, according to the Mariners' PR.
The next-highest pitcher after Kirby is the Tampa Bay Rays' Zach Eflin at 9.0.
Kirby has struck out seven or more batters in seven of his 19 starts this season and has 12 quality starts this season overall. Kirby has walked more than two batters just once this season. He has a 3.39 ERA this season and has fanned 109 batters.
Kirby had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 10-plus before his start on Sunday. If he can get it back up to double-digits, he would become just the fifth pitcher in league history to accomplish the feat. The Minnesota Twins' Phil Hughes (2014), Seattle/Texas Rangers' Cliff Lee (2010), New York Mets' Bret Saberhagen (1994) and Boston Red Sox' Jim Whitney (1884) are the others, according to Mariners PR.
George Kirby, Nasty 89mph Slider...and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/x42XHqhQwl
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 7, 2024
Kirby is no stranger to the MLB record book. He set the record for the most consecutive strikes to start a game with 24 in his rookie season on Aug. 24, 2022, against the Washington Nationals.
If Kirby were to retire today, he would hold another impressive record.
The third-year pitcher has a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.96. That's the most in MLB history for hurlers with a minimum of 400 innings pitched. The Rangers' Jacob deGrom would have the highest if he retired today (5.38), according to Baseball Reference.
Kirby will likely get one more start before the All-Star break during Game 3 or 4 of the Mariners' series against the Los Angeles Angels on either July 13 or July 14.
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