FINAL GRADES: George Kirby's Command Helped Elevate Seattle Mariners Rotation

The Seattle Mariners were expected to have one of the better starting rotations in the league heading into 2024 and they somehow managed to exceed those expectations.

And a large part of that success was 2023 All-Star George Kirby.

Kirby has been the pinnacle of consistency since his debut in 2022. And that trend continued in 2024.

Kirby boasts arguably the best command out of the Mariners entire starting rotation. An impressive feat considering the experience of Luis Castillo and the arsenal of Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller.

Although Seattle's 2024 All-Star ended up being Gilbert, there was an argument to be had, especially at the All-Star break, that Kirby could have earned a trip to the Midsummer Classic, too.

After all, Kirby had one of the most impressive streaks in the league.

George Kirby by the numbers

Games started: 33

Pitching stats: 3.53 ERA, 33 appearances (33 starts), 14-11 record, 191.0 innings pitched, 179 strikeouts, 1.07 WHIP, 20 QS, .245 opp. BA, 4.2 WAR

Advanced pitching stats: 3.39 xERA, .238 xBA, 31.9% chase, 23.9% whiff, 3.26 FIP, 8.43 K/9, 71.6% LOB

What I liked

I mentioned Kirby's command earlier, and that's without a doubt his strength. You probably don't have to use more than two hands to count the number of starters in the league with better location than Kirby. And that's being generous.

And Kirby had a lot of different throws in which he displayed that.

Kirby has an arsenal of seven pitches, according to Baseball Savant: A four-seamer, a slider, a sinker, a splitter, a knuckle curve, a cutter and a straight knuckle ball. He used his fastball, slider, sinker and splitter at least 10% of the time. He used his heater, slider and sinker over 20%.

Kirby also struck up a relationship with backup catcher Mitch Garver. Those two were often the pitcher-catcher combo during most of Kirby's starts in the second half of the season. That allowed starting catcher (and likely Gold Glove/Silver Slugger award winner) Cal Raleigh to get some much-deserved rest.

Kirby had a streak of nine consecutive quality starts from June 9-July 26, the highest consecutive streak of that stat in the entire league.

Kirby's effectiveness did start to dip in the second half of the year starting with an outing against the Boston Red Sox on July 31. But he managed to close out the year strong with three straight quality starts.

Best game

Kirby had three starts of seven innings pitched while allowing no runs. His first of such appearances was undoubtedly his best.

On April 27 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kirby threw seven innings and struck out 12 batters without giving up a run. He walked one batter and let up two hits.