Mariners' George Kirby risks conflict with experiment in Cal Raleigh's absence

Every now and then, there's a spring training storyline that fits in a gray area between "This is much ado about nothing" and "I've got a bad feeling about this." Which brings us to Seattle Mariners right-hander George Kirby and his PitchCom experiment.

When Kirby wore a PitchCom device for his Cactus League assignment against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, it seemed like a development out of left field. One obligatory question: Since when does he think it's a good idea to call his own shots?

Plus, another: Is Cal Raleigh going to be OK with this when he's back from the World Baseball Classic?

George Kirby's PitchCom experiment could set up inevitable drama with Mariners star Cal Raleigh

Read through stories by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times and Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports, and you'll get the general vibe that everything is going to be fine.

Yes, this plan has been in the works for a while. And yes, Raleigh is aware of it. And no, Kirby isn't going to use PitchCom to completely take over calling his own games when he's on the mound.

“It’s just a way for me to have more conviction in some of my pitches, something that I really want to throw,” Kirby said. “Instead of shaking 20 times to get to a pitch, you press it and go from there. If anything, catchers kind of like it when guys are more convicted in what they want to throw. I’m still going to let them do their thing. But if there is something I want to throw, I’m going to call it.”

Just in theory, Kirby is a pitcher who would benefit from having more of a say in his pitch selection.

For one thing, the 28-year-old can throw six different pitches. For another, his game is not about going out there and blowing hitters away. He throws in the mid-to-high 90s, but he's more about precise location and clever sequencing. To the latter end, two heads may well be better than one.

Even so, calling pitches is the catcher's responsibility. As Divish notes in his piece, Raleigh puts a lot of time, effort and pride into that aspect of the job, and that he is "notorious for being irritated when pitchers shake him off in certain situations, often times calling the same pitch again to prove a point."

As Divish reported on Monday, Logan Gilbert is also going to experiment with wearing his own PitchCom device. Yet he merely wants to speed things up when there are runners on base, which is different from Kirby seeking more conviction in his pitch selection. The general implication is that pitch selection was at fault for his career-high 4.21 ERA last year, which isn't necessarily the case.

He wasn't quite as efficient throwing strikes, and he all but ditched a splitter that had been effective for him the year before. It's possible these two things were linked to the lower arm slot he adopted after his early-season shoulder injury. If so, good health may be all he needs to return to his ace-caliber form of 2023 and 2024.

As for pitch selection, it's not as if Kirby consistently got burned in spots where he should have had the advantage. To wit, his OPS in two-strike counts (.471) was lower than it had been in 2023 (.513) and 2024 (.531).

Granted, there is something to be said about a pitcher feeling more confident. And if simply wearing a PitchCom device achieves that for Kirby, then Raleigh might have to swallow his pride and let him cook. You sometimes have to do that for a teammate, and let's not forget that these two were partying together at the Super Bowl just a few weeks ago.

At the end of the day, though, only results matter. And if Kirby's PitchCom experiment doesn't produce the results he wants, that's when you hope he'd come back around to the same mantra that ties his fellow Mariners hurlers together: In Cal we trust.