George Kirby

George Joseph Kirby (born February 4, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022. Amateur career Kirby grew up a fan of the New York Yankees in Westchester County, New York. He attended Rye High School in Rye, where he played both baseball and basketball. As a sophomore baseball player in 2014, he threw 153 pitches in the NYSPHSAA Section 1 Class A championship game to beat Lakeland High School. Elon University began recruiting him to play college baseball in 2014. After his junior season in 2015, he was named to the New York State Sportswriters Association's All-State First Team for Class A as a pitcher and first baseman and The Journal News Westchester/Putnam All-Star First Team alongside Josiah Gray. As a senior in 2016, he went 6–0 with a 0.32 ERA and 73 strikeouts in innings and was again named to the All-State First Team. Although expected to be an early pick in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, he fell to the New York Mets in the 32nd round because of signability concerns. He chose not to sign with the Mets and instead chose to attend Elon to play college baseball for the Elon Phoenix. As a freshman at Elon in 2017, Kirby appeared in 16 games (five starts) and pitched to a 1–3 record with a 4.84 ERA, striking out 55 batters in innings. He was named to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Rookie Team. In 2018, as a sophomore, Kirby appeared and started in 15 games, going 10–3 with a 2.89 ERA and 96 strikeouts in innings. He earned a spot on the All-CAA Second Team. After the season, Kirby played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Harwich Mariners where he posted a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings. Prior to the 2019 season, Kirby was named a preseason All-American by both Baseball America and Perfect Game. He was named the 2019 CAA Pitcher of the Year after going 8–2 with a 2.75 ERA in 14 starts, striking out 107 batters and walking only six in innings. Professional career