HOUSTON -- George Kirby is officially back.
The Mariners activated the 2023 All-Star from the injured list on Thursday morning to make his season debut against the Astros at Daikin Field in a four-game series opener later that night. In a corresponding move, reliever Troy Taylor was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma after Wednesday's game.
Kirby, who made three rehab starts at Tacoma -- and most recently last Friday -- opened the season on the 15-day IL with right shoulder inflammation, a recovery process that lasted nearly three months dating back to when he was first shut down.
Kirby was shut down March 7 and had been rehabbing since. That included three starts with Tacoma, the most recent being a four-inning, 64-pitch outing Friday. Though he allowed four runs on 10 hits, the more telling signs to his readiness were that he did not walk a batter and sat at 96 mph with his four-seamer (topping out at 97.5 mph).
Overall on his Minor League rehab assignment, Kirby has averaged 96.2 mph with the four-seamer, right in line with where the pitch has been the last two seasons. The whiff rate on his slider (15.4 percent) has been down compared to 26.9 percent in ‘24 and 22 percent in ‘23, but Seattle has seen enough to feel confident he’s ready to rejoin the rotation.
“I know it's been a long road for George since Spring Training,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “You put the work in, you do your rehab assignments. Mentally you're ready to go, and physically you're ready to go. So it's great to have him back. We're excited to get him back.”
Kirby, who was throwing in the outfield pregame Wednesday, has increased his pitch count between starts. The 64 pitches he threw Friday represented an increase from 54 on May 10, which was up from 42 on May 4.
The Mariners will be cautious with Kirby as his season gets underway. They’re already planning to keep him on a six-day routine for at least his first few starts. Wilson said Kirby’s pitch count Thursday will likely fall in the 75-80 range.
Kirby is an incredibly important piece of Seattle’s rotation. Though he didn’t make it back-to-back All-Star nods in 2024 (he was selected as an injury replacement in ‘23), his 4.2 WAR (FanGraphs) last season ranked fifth among all American League pitchers and 11th among all Major League arms, just beating out Logan Gilbert (4.1) for the team lead.
Kirby’s 3.53 ERA ranked 13th among qualified AL pitchers and his 14 wins tied for eighth most, while his walk rate (three percent) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.78) both led the big leagues. He also tossed a career-high 191 innings (one-third of an inning more than in 2023), the ninth-highest total in the Majors.
So, though it appears he’ll pitch with some sort of a workload limit to begin, getting back an arm as valuable as Kirby’s is a big boost to a Mariners squad that entered Wednesday 27-20 and in first place in the AL West by 2 1/2 games.
“Obviously, looking forward to getting George back out there,” Wilson said, “and I know he's excited to get back out there as well.”
Mariners select Hahn, DFA Lawrence
Prior to Wednesday’s matchup with the White Sox, the Mariners announced they had selected right-hander Jesse Hahn from Triple-A Tacoma and designated right-hander Casey Lawrence for assignment.
Hahn made two relief appearances for Seattle in early April, giving up just one unearned run across four innings before being DFA’d April 9. In five Triple-A appearances this season, Hahn owns a 0.00 ERA.
“Jesse's been throwing the ball well, and we saw him in Spring Training throwing the ball well, as well,” Wilson said. “Good to see Jesse back. … He'll give us a little bit more length and be a little bit of a length option out of the bullpen.”
Lawrence, who was just selected from Tacoma on Tuesday, is coming off five innings of one-run ball in the 1-0 loss to Chicago. He was selected and then DFA’d by Seattle three times in April. After the third, Toronto claimed him off waivers and had him pitch once before DFA’ing him again to end the month.
Lawrence returned to the Mariners on a Minor League deal on May 7, and they hope they can keep him in the organization once again.
“Casey's a first-class individual and a very selfless guy,” Wilson said. “His willingness to do what he has done for us and to go out there, give us five innings like he did, just an unbelievable job and an unbelievable person.”