CHI
George Kirby, P
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Scouting report
If you tally up Kirby's three years at Elon, his summer on the Cape, and his brief pro debut, he has a 307-to-51 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 276 innings since 2017. That's a 4% walk rate, and in Kirby's most recent calendar year of innings, it has been a microscopic 1.3%. While his pre-draft velocity was strong (touching 97, often 93-95 early, 91-94 late in starts), his secondary stuff was very average. His slider and curveball (the latter is better) ran together a bit, and his changeup had inconsistent finish. But often elite command of what is a 55-grade pitch in a vacuum leads to elite results (see: Bieber, Shane), and I think that sort of secondary pitch effectiveness is possible for Kirby. One of Seattle's stated post-draft goals for the right-hander was to make him stronger. In 2020 spring bullpens, Kirby looked noticeably thicker and stronger, and he was indeed throwing harder, touching 99 mph several times in Peoria side sessions. Then Kirby sat 97-99 throughout his time at the alt site and again during the spring of 2021. The context of all these looks is important, and there is risk of regression during the full-season slog, but because Kirby's velo bump coincided with a change in physicality, I'm more inclined to believe it will hold. Even with fairly vanilla secondary stuff, mid-90s heat and Kirby's potential for elite command gives him a mid-rotation ceiling. (Alternate site)