Star Mariners right-hander George Kirby has been shut down from throwing due to shoulder inflammation and will open the 2025 season on the 15-day injured list, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The righty has already undergone an MRI that did not reveal structural damage, Divish adds. He felt as though he could continue pitching, but the team overruled him and will take a cautious route with one of their prized young starters. Mariners general manager Justin Hollander described the situation (video link via Divish):
“George Kirby has not been feeling great after his outings. In the outings, he’s throwing the ball well — same velocity as you would expect. He just hasn’t felt like he’s bouncing back great. We did an MRI — MRI looks great. No structural concerns whatsoever, and I will repeat that: zero structural concerns. There is some inflammation in there that we need to get out, so much to George’s chagrin, we are going to take the ball out of his hands. … This is more like a week-to-week thing than a day-to-day thing. We just want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for the big picture of the whole season as opposed to worrying about Opening Day.”
More to come.