On October 15, 2022, George Kirby left it all on the mound at T-Mobile Park. This Saturday, October 4, the Mariners hope he’ll do the same.
Kirby started Game 3 of the ALDS for the Mariners, attempting to salvage the Mariners’ playoff hopes and save them from elimination after losing the first two games of the series in Houston. For seven innings, he fought and battled and clawed against a fearsome Houston lineup, bending but never breaking. He worked out of several scrapes, maybe none bigger than
escaping a bases-loaded jam in the third. After seven scoreless innings, he punctuated his day by striking out Jose Altuve, the architect of so much Mariners fans suffering over the years.
But the offense couldn’t back Kirby’s sterling start, and the Mariners lost on a Jeremy Peña solo home run in the 18th inning, a crushing defeat in the only home playoff game Mariners fans had the opportunity to attend in decades.
Tomorrow, George Kirby will once again toe the rubber at T-Mobile Park in a playoff game, this time as a tone-setter in an ALDS matchup against the Tigers. The stakes are the same—a trip to the ALCS—but the circumstances for Seattle are wildly different. The Mariners, coming off a week-long bye, are the team with home field advantage this time, and Kirby will be playing not to stave off elimination, but to dictate the tone of the series.
It’s an equally heady responsibility for a team that’s been starved of post-season play for so long, and an equally significant honor for Kirby, who struggled more this season than in any of his previous seasons, starting the season on the injured list and posting his worst ERA as a pro, even as more advanced metrics like FIP and DRA saw his season in-line with previous performances. But Kirby finished his season strong, with two fourteen-strikeout outings (admittedly, against the Angels and Rockies) plus a dominant start against the Astros, pitching six shutout innings with seven strikeouts in a series that all but delivered the AL West title to the Mariners.
“I think we saw some really good outings from George late in the season,” said manager Dan Wilson. “We saw something in George, especially—all our guys really, kind of find that mental spot and that mental space to go and really compete. And George was able to do that down the stretch.”
Catcher Cal Raleigh has also noticed a trend upwards for his pitcher over the last few weeks. “This last month has been great, he’s been hitting his stride really well. We all know it’s been there, just, you know, fighting those injuries, trying to get into that consistent routine and just getting back into that mentality.”
One of those improvements has come on the sinker, a pitch Kirby said he tweaked the grip on after seeing how Bryan Woo throws his. While the movement profile on the pitch doesn’t look particularly different, the results have been different; in his start against Houston, Kirby went sinker-heavy, throwing the pitch 50% of the time to get 15 called strikes and 4 whiffs. As his catcher, Cal says the pitch doesn’t look different to him; rather, he feels the new grip has allowed Kirby to get the movement profile back and locate the pitch better. Post-tweak, Kirby cut his walk rate on the sinker in half from where it was in July and August.
The bigger difference has come in how the improved sinker command has improved the rest of Kirby’s arsenal, allowing his knuckle curve and four-seamer to play up. Kirby’s curveball has always been a strong strikeout pitch for him, but it fell to a 28% K-rate in August; post -tweak, it rebounded to 42%, more in line with his season numbers. On the four-seamer, Kirby was running a strikeout percentage of about 25% his season, a downtick of about 5% from where it had been in previous years; in September, that number shot to 53%.
Obviously, small sample size ahoy, but both Raleigh and Kirby emphasize that this isn’t a new George Kirby; it’s just a return to form. And while the one they call “furious George” remains the ultimate competitor, he’s also found ways to manage his intensity over the course of the season.
“George has the ability to slow things down in some ways, the ability to slow the game down a bit,” said Dan Wilson. “We’ve talked a lot about identity throughout the course of the year. I think George is very tuned in to who he is as a pitcher and what he does well, and when you’re in those moments, it’s the time to rely on your strengths, and that’s what George does so well: attacks the strike zone, gets ahead, gets hitters into tough counts.”
Part of the way Kirby has been slowing the game down for himself is adopting a journaling practice, suggested by mental skills coach Adam Bernero, that’s allowed him to clear his mind after starts. “Just kind of get your feelings out, don’t leave anything on the table,” said Kirby. “It just allows me to forget about a lot of things, whether it’s a bad game or just stress or anxiety leading up to something, it allows me to get a little freedom and just worry about the game instead of everything else that goes along with it. Being in control is the only thing I can control.”
But don’t mistake that for a different Kirby than the one that came roaring onto the field in October 2022.
“Obviously, the adrenaline is my favorite part. Most of the time, you’re gonna have your best stuff. This time of the year, getting in these games, having the fans behind you, your teammates behind you, everyone coming together and getting after it, the close battles, it’s my favorite part. Everything about the playoffs is awesome.”
Mariners fans who agonized over the 18-inning defeat and the team’s subsequent inability to get back to the post-season might have words for the playoffs other than “awesome.” But it’s a different, more complete Mariners team that will face down the ghost of playoffs past this Saturday, led by a resurgent George Kirby who is finding his way back to himself at just the right time.
