Fastball

Seattle Mariners' All-Star George Kirby Has the Best Control in the Last 100 Years of Baseball History

This past weekend, George Kirby spun an absolute gem for the Seattle Mariners against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was the continuation of a great start to Kirby's career, one that has seen him as emerge as the best control pitcher of the last 100 years.

Brady Farkas

Apr 27, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) pitches
Apr 27, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) pitches / Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
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This past weekend, Seattle Mariners' ace George Kirby spun a gem against the Arizona Diamondbacks, registering 12 strikeouts in a dominant performance that Seattle ended up winning.

Kirby flashed 97-98 MPH stuff and showed an elite breaking ball, alongside his impeccable command.

His outing caused Rob Friedman AKA @PitchingNinja to call him the greatest control pitcher of all-time, including Greg Maddux.

Turns out that Friedman was right, as Kirby has the lowest B/9 ratio of any qualified pitcher to debut in the Live Ball Era (since 1920).

Per @MLBNetwork:

Lowest BB/9 (among starting pitchers to debut in the Live Ball Era (since 1920):

1) George Kirby, 1.15

2) Bob Tewksbury, 1.45

3) Kevin Slowey, 1.51

4) Josh Towers, 1.51

5) Red Lucas, 1.61

6) Brad Rake, 1.63

The 26-year-old New York native made his Major League debut in 2022 and earned an All-Star nod in 2023. He's thrown 353 career innings in the big leagues and has 343 strikeouts vs. just 45 walks. This season, he's walked four batters in 32.1 innings.

What makes Kirby so impressive is that he isn't doing this with a junk-filled arsenal. Typically, we associate command pitchers with low velocity and power pitchers with wildness, but Kirby has both velocity and control.

He walked only 19 batters in 190.2 innings in 2023.

With Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryce Miller, Emerson Hancock and Bryan Woo, the Mariners just may have the best rotation in all of baseball.

At 16-13, they lead the American League West heading into play on Tuesday.

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.