Steal GT: The team that will be .500 if it loses vs Anderson

[Pharmabro]

The first one of a long run I hope

[Sibelius Hindemith]

So did Kirby really need to go throgh two bad starts and a not-so-good one with the major league team in order to be able to pitch well again?

[Donn Beach]

So did Kirby really need to go throgh two bad starts and a not-so-good one with the major league team in order to be able to pitch well again?

I'm not surprised by it, he didn't even have a spring training.

[DanielVogelbach]

14Ks for Kirby is a great sign

[Sibelius Hindemith]

So did Kirby really need to go throgh two bad starts and a not-so-good one with the major league team in order to be able to pitch well again?

I'm not surprised by it, he didn't even have a spring training.

Well, i meant as opposed to staying in Tacoma another couple weeks. Did they think he needed to get his ass kicked several times by ML hitting in order to return to form? Doesn't make sense to me.

[Juliooooo]

Last game it seemed Kirby just wasn’t quite able to get that final strike. He certainly was able to figure it out today.

Will be interesting to see what they do with Hancock and miller when Gilbert gets back. I think they need to reward Hancock for what he’s been doing, and give miller a chance to reset. Since coming back he’s at a 4.17 era with a5.2 innings per start, that’s with 1 bad game against NYY with 7 runs, over the other 8 starts he has given up 16 runs in 44 2/3 innings (3.2 ERA)

Let’s contrast that with Bryce miller over essentially the same time frame (yes he was injured, and yes he missed some games). He has an era of 7.48. He has 1 good start with 0 runs, but only 4.0 ip. The rest of the starts he has at least 4 ER and hasnt gone over 5.0 innings.

Yea, I really hope its injury related, because he was so good last year, but can’t keep trotting him out there like this.

And for you bpj, Hancock actually seems to better on the road (3.25 ERA). His 2 blowup games are at home

[Donn Beach]

I don't mind them being aggressive bringing him up, I don't think it's something where you pick the exact date. I think we should be thankful he came around as quickly as he did. I'm thinking it's pretty phenomenal really. I also think they seem to handle their pitching pretty good. I'd call it a successful rehab

[Donn Beach]

Kirby's numbers aren't encouraging when discussing his potential return to the major league staff, but it's the physical benchmarks that are the most important, and it looked like he cleared those Saturday.

Kirby threw 64 pitches, including 48 strikes. He threw 54 pitches in his second rehab outing and 42 in his first. The majority of the damage done against Kirby on Saturday happened in the first two innings, which is a good sign that his increased usage didn't labor him.
Kirby also gained his velocity back. His fastball maxed out at 97.5 mph. His average fastball velocity was at 96 mph in 2024, according to Baseball Savant.

Kirby's fastball is back, and the higher pitch count didn't noticeably affect him. Those, and how Kirby feels after his rehab starts, are the major things needed to nail down before he's activated off the IL.

[Millikin]

I don't mind them being aggressive bringing him up, I don't think it's something where you pick the exact date. I think we should be thankful he came around as quickly as he did. I'm thinking it's pretty phenomenal really. I also think they seem to handle their pitching pretty good. I'd call it a successful rehab

I'm thinking after his rehab starts they asked him how he's feeling. He said great.

Maybe they asked him why he didn't seem to perform that well during rehab and he said something like, "I was working on some stuff," like a particular thing he was focused on.

Contrast Kirby to Brash. Both did shitty in rehab at Tacoma. Brash came up and has been great, Kirby took a few starts to get back to himself. Maybe just the difference between being a starter and a reliever who only needs to perform for one inning.

Anyway... Things are looking up for Kirby and it looks like they're keeping Gilbert down longer to not repeat the mistake.

Possible silver lining: Logan Evans performed well enough that he's either good trade capital or he can replace someone in the rotation if they get traded.

[Donn Beach]

Was poking around, ran across that, that's pretty wild. My stab at it is, he felt good, felt strong, but he wasn't quite hitting his spots, I think everyone felt it was worth letting him get there with the team as not. Brash on the other hand is about power, easier to project that as being ready

This was last season, start against the Dbacks

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).