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.

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.

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.

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.

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 innings.

Kirby returned to Arkansas to open the 2022 season.

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.