On May 4, 2019, while pitching for Elon University, George Kirby did the unthinkable. He walked a batter. The walk was his first since April 14 and marked just his 6th and final walk of the 2019 season. Following the conclusion of his college career at Elon, the Mariners made Kirby their first round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, selecting him 20th overall.

Upon joining the Mariners, Kirby made his professional debut with Short-A Everett, where he spent the remainder of the 2019 season. Between Everett and Elon, he tossed 111.1 combined innings in 2019, while issuing only 6 walks (0.49 BB/9 ratio). To this date, his last walk still took place on May 4 with Elon.

Since May 4, a lot has happened:

Through all that, Kirby held steady, pounding the strike zone to the tune of 36 strikeouts over 33.2 innings pitched without issuing a single walk.

However, it wasn’t just Kirby’s ability to throw strikes that made him the Mariners first round pick, it was his ability to throw “premium strikes.”

“He throws premium strikes with all of his pitches,” said Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto. “He throws 100 miles per hour and sits around 94–95, and he does it easy with both breaking balls and a changeup.

“George has not walked a batter since May, which I find to be phenomenal,” Dipoto continued. “And why I think that’s even more impressive is his fastball gets up to 99 miles an hour.”

With raw stuff like that, Kirby did not seem to have much trouble adapting to his first taste of professional baseball with Short-A Everett.

“I think I handled the competition pretty well, going from college to pro ball,” Kirby recalled. “I didn’t let it get to my head. I knew that I was better than a lot of the guys I was going to face — just pound the zone and see if they could beat me.”

For Short-A hitters, beating Kirby seemed to be a nearly impossible task. Through 9 games (8 abbreviated starts) with Everett, Kirby went 0–0 with a 2.35 ERA (6 ER, 23.0 IP), allowing just 1 home run with no walks and 25 strikeouts, good for an infinite SO/BB ratio.

Earlier in 2019, college hitters suffered a similar fate, as Kirby went 8–2 with a 2.75 ERA (27 ER, 88.1 IP), while walking 6 and striking out 107 during his junior season at Elon. His 17.83 strikeout-to-walk ratio was the best among all Division 1 pitchers by a wide margin, besting second place Matt Waldron of the University of Nebraska (13.29).

In reflecting on the 2019 season, Kirby credits working on his command and developing his off-speed pitches as keys to his success.

“From the beginning of the spring season at Elon, I was working on my command.” Kirby said. “I worked on just living on the outside corner at school and had to change that coming into minor league ball because it’s more up and down in the zone.

“Using my fastball and playing with my slider off that pitch is something I really worked on. I didn’t throw the slider a whole lot this summer with Everett, but my curveball got a lot better, so I was using that a lot. I think overall a lot of my pitches just started to get more shape and just look a lot better.”

So, what’s in store for Kirby as he looks ahead to his first full season in the Mariners organization?

“I think it starts in the weight room and with conditioning,” said Kirby, recalling his plans for the offseason. “I know I can fill in my body a lot better. I think conditioning my arm better and preparing to get 150-plus innings per year will let me go longer in games and keep a consistent velo.”

As his development continues, Dipoto says it will only be a matter of time before Kirby joins a growing core of young Mariners at the Major League level.

“He’s a top-half of the rotation guy.” Said Dipoto. “I think we have multiple guys that have the chance to achieve that, but Logan [Gilbert], George [Kirby] and Brandon Williamson all stand out as three guys who could very easily find themselves in that stratosphere with good health.

“We’re very excited for where George goes. Our guess is he’ll be a really quick mover who probably moves on a level similar to Logan Gilbert if all goes well next year and we see him finish up the season in Double-A. In that case, anything is possible in 2021.”