Medical Insiders Weigh in on Shoulder Injury For Seattle Mariners' George Kirby

Entering play on Thursday, the Seattle Mariners are 18-12 and in first place in the American League West. Despite a rash of injuries, Seattle has found a way to keep winning. They've won 15 of their last 20 games after a 3-7 start.

And there are still reasons to believe that the group will get better. Reliever Matt Brash could return by this weekend from his Tommy John recovery and Dylan Moore is expected back when first eligible on May 6.

Furthermore, George Kirby, shut down with right shoulder inflammation since March 7, is making progress. After a live bullpen session in Seattle this week, he appears close to ready for a rehab assignment.

As part of the Refuse To Lose podcast, we caught up two insiders to discuss what's gone on with Kirby, his rehab, and any additional concerns there will be.

First, from Dr. Gabriella Ode of the Hospital For Special Surgery:

"It's a little unpredictable, but in general, much of the performance teams on the major league level really understand how to get somebody back from injury and out back to full speed and back to the workload. I would expect that if he's had a bump in the road like this, they are spending a thoughtful amount of time helping him get through this inflammation episode, working on his mechanics, making sure the shoulder is stronger, so that as he gets to the full workload of a very long season, he's able to maintain his ability to take its highest level. So, very often the outcomes are very optimistic to be able to get somebody back if they have an inflammation episode or they have some irritation in the shoulder. But some of it is just is time, thoughtful rehabilitation and a very -well curated rehabilitation process to get them back and they can get through a full season often."

And then, from Will Caroll, medical insider and author of books on baseball injuries, who suggested that he's also optimistic about Kirby. But he did offer one thing to monitor moving forward:

...Those forces don't really transfer until you're at near full-effort. You'll see guys playing catch, you'll see guys throwing batting practice fastballs. It's until you see them throwing very near the top to where you know that everything's good. Because you'll see guys go all the way, progress through rehab, get to that final stage, and then bang, something happens again. You see that inflammation come back. The Mariners' medical staff, very, very solid. So I think they've just been conservative with this rather than a 'this has gone wrong.'

You can listen to the full interview with Carroll on the most recent edition of the podcast below:

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