Seattle Mariners starter George Kirby (68) delivers a pitch against the San Diego Padres at T-Mobile Park in 2024. Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners' All-Star George Kirby May Need More Minor League Rehab Starts

Originally posted on Minor League Baseball on SI
By Brady Farkas | Last updated May 14, 2025 2:03 PM ET

The Seattle Mariners are in a very precarious situation with their starting rotation, as Bryce Miller, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are all currently on the injured list.

At least in Kirby's case, the team is nearing a return, but when will it come?

It had been originally reported that Kirby would make one more rehab start before returning to the major league roster, but general manager Justin Hollander indicated it's possible he could have two more before coming back.

He made the comments on Wednesday during an interview on Seattle Sports 710:

George is supposed to throw his next rehab outing on the 16th. We're kind of taking it outing by outing and seeing where he's at, how he feels. So, we'll see how George does on the 16th and how he feels afterwards. No guarantee that we would activate him for the next start in the big leagues. It just depends on how it goes. We want to make sure George is ready. I said to the media scrum the other day, we do want to keep in mind George didn't have a spring training. So the things that you experience over six starts or seven starts in spring training, trying to condense those down into two or three starts, in a Triple-A environment, maybe not the smartest thing we can do unless we're really confident that he's good to go.

So we want to make sure that we're being smart, playing the long game with George, who's got a lot of days in front of him, and we don't want to think about just the next big leaguely game in front of us.

#Mariners GM Justin Hollander discusses Bryce Miller's injury and provides an injury update on pitchers George Kirby & Logan Gilbert. @michaelbumpus5 x @StacyRost

: https://t.co/1Te6CoTwkZ pic.twitter.com/1ZWwYYL1A1
— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) May 14, 2025

Kirby has been out since March 7 with shoulder inflammation. The 27-year-old has thrown six total innings at Tacoma, striking out nine and pitching to a 6.00 ERA. He's been in the neighborhood of 95-98 mph with his fastball and has felt well afterwards.

The Mariners are currently 23-18 and lead the American League West.

This article first appeared on Minor League Baseball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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