Logan Gilbert’s work on the bases in yesterday’s Mariners win was more than a nice defensive moment. It also put a spotlight on one of the stranger storylines in Seattle this season: Gilbert has gone from one of the club’s worst pitchers at controlling the running game to, by Statcast’s Net Bases Prevented, the best in the starting staff.
That shift is notable because Gilbert and Bryce Miller have both worked at a pace that usually invites trouble. Gilbert’s 18.6-second pitch tempo sits in the bottom 6% of MLB, and Miller is in that same neighborhood. Slower delivery times tend to give runners more chances to take off, and Gilbert has still made real progress there, even if he says he’ll never be a master of the pickoff.
The pitcher who has had the toughest time, though, is George Kirby. His -5 Net Bases Prevented is not only the worst mark on the Mariners’ staff, it also lands in the bottom 5% in MLB.
Kirby’s issue isn’t as simple as speed to the plate. He has actually been one of the quicker Mariners starters in that department, but this season his profile has changed in a way that has opened the door for opposing runners.
In 2023-24, he was so stingy with walks that the running game hardly mattered. Even in 2025, after returning from an early-season shoulder injury, he walked more hitters but also posted a career-high strikeout rate of 26%.
This year, though, Kirby is striking out the lowest percentage of hitters in his career, under 20%, while still issuing the same number of walks as he did in 2025. That’s still well below MLB average, but it’s a step away from the ultra-clean version of Kirby from 2023 and 2024, and it has put more bodies on base.
Once runners get there, they’ve been aggressive.
Against the A’s in Kirby’s last start, Oakland turned one baserunner into damage quickly. Zack Gelof opened the fourth inning with a single, Kirby got Lawrence Butler on a flyout, and then Gelof stole second during Butler’s at-bat.
Max Muncy followed with a two-out RBI single, and the A’s got another run later in the inning after a passed ball on Cal Raleigh. What had been a 2-0 game suddenly looked a lot different, and Seattle never climbed out of that hole.
That kind of thing has hurt a Mariners offense that has already struggled to score. Runs handed over on walks and stolen bases are the sort of cheap damage that can swing a game before it ever feels settled.
The Mets’ double steal against Kirby in a 7-1 loss on June 3 stood out as a particularly rough example, and the Padres’ 8-3 win on May 17 had a similar shape. That game was still close until a disastrous sixth inning, but in the fifth the Padres essentially doubled their lead for free when Xander Bogaerts walked, stole second and third in succession, and then scored on a Ty France single.
There is also a mechanical piece to this. As the broadcast pointed out, Kirby’s large leg kick is part of why he remains vulnerable on the bases even though his tempo to the plate is relatively quick.
That gives him a built-in ceiling in this area. The hope is that his pace and his ability to limit walks can offset some of that.
Both are things he can control, and both are areas where he could do better.
Kirby has also spent this season working on the mental side of the equation, trying to be more comfortable with contact and move on faster once runners reach. He has said that in the past he’s gotten stuck on pitches he felt he executed well, only to watch them turn into hits. This year, he has tried to shift his attention back to the hitter and keep attacking.
“That’s a big thing for me,” Kirby said back in April after a particularly good start against the Astros. “Once that guy gets on base, you can’t do anything about it anymore.
You just have to lock in a go back to thinking about the competition between you and the hitter. They got on, doesn’t matter, just go attack the next guy.
I think that really helps flush all the negative energy after a couple hits.”
That balance matters. A pitcher can’t obsess over every runner, but he also can’t pretend the runner isn’t there.
For Kirby, whose “Furious George” edge has long been part of his identity, managing that tension is now part of the job. And with free runs piling up, it’s the kind of problem that can’t be shrugged off.
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