Seattle Mariners: Where will George Kirby start his 2021 season?

It isn’t just Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez that the Seattle Mariners have in their farm system, although they are definitely the current ones who reside at the top of most prospect lists. The team has plenty of talented pitchers as well, including George Kirby and his master control.

If you took a look at his stats from the short 2019 season, you might think that a typo was made. In fact, it is true that during his 23 innings of Low A ball at Everett, he threw a total of zero walks. Goose egg. Double zero. Adam Ottavino.

In fact, I think Everett is where he is going to start the 2021 season as well. It’s where the High-A team in the Seattle Mariners farm system is located, and I think Kirby makes the trip there to start his season. Remember, a class has been cut for this year, so there is no High-A, A, and A-short season, just High-A and Low-A.

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He shouldn’t get comfortable though, as I don’t think that it will last long for George Kirby.

It’s a bit harder to predict where players are going to go. We haven’t really seen what has gone on with a lot of prospects in well over a year. Normally, you have a better idea of where someone will go based on the level they were at the year before, the team’s expectations of the player, and the trajectory they finished the season at.

With Kirby, he is still pretty young. In fact, he turns 23 at the beginning of February. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Seattle Mariners throw him in High-A for a month, and get him another 23 innings or so, to have a bit of a comparison to what he did to finish 2019.

If the incredible control is still there, which it should be based on his profile and career consistency, there is no reason to not think Kirby will make a rapid ascent through the minor league ranks in 2021. AA ball in April? Yes, I think so. Maybe a short trip to AAA before the Super-2 cutoff in early to mid-June. Heck, for you older millennials and above, maybe he pulls a Ken Cloude and goes straight from AA to the Majors.

Sorry, sore spot there a bit. I was a kid still, and remember him coming up in the Mariners playoff season in 97. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

If Kirby is able to show his immaculate control as he jumps levels, he could easily situate himself into the middle of the Seattle Mariners rotation and hold that spot down for years to come, if not an entire decade.

Get ready for George Kirby. He’s going to be in the starting rotation for the Seattle Mariners before you know it. For now, head on out to Everett and watch him make a handful of starts for the High-A Aquasox team.