Former All-Star rips George Kirby over pitch count complaint
Aug 12, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) in the dugout during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
A former MLB All-Star was not impressed with Seattle Mariners pitcher George Kirby’s complaint about pitch counts after Friday’s game.
Longtime Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver said Kirby’s comments, in which the Mariners pitcher said he should not have been allowed to pitch into the seventh inning, were “embarrassing.” Weaver added that this kind of attitude is why he would never be a coach at the MLB level.
“This is why I’ll never be any kind of coach in the big leagues to be honest. I shouldn’t have been out there? I threw 90 pitches? What the f—?? Embarrassing truly embarrassing… grab you nuts and let’s go to work!!” Weaver wrote on X (profanity edited by LBS).
Kirby had thrown 93 pitches through six innings Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, but was sent back out for the seventh and gave up a game-tying home run on his 102nd pitch. After the game, Kirby said he wished he had not been sent out for that inning, and indicated that he would have a conversation with manager Scott Servais about it.
For a pitcher like Weaver, 93 pitches is not many at all. Weaver came up in an era where top starters were regularly asked to throw over 100 pitches, but that is becoming less frequent in the modern game. Friday’s game was just the fifth time in 27 starts that Kirby reached the 100-pitch mark in a start. By comparison, in Weaver’s age-25 season, he did it 17 times in 30 starts, and ended his outing on 99 pitches three more times. He threw fewer than 92 pitches just twice.
Ultimately, if Kirby made clear that he felt he had given everything and Servais sent him back out anyway, the blame falls on the manager. If Kirby simply saw his pitch count after the sixth, assumed he was done, and mentally checked out, that is firmly on him.
