Mariners Pitcher Honors Tim Wakefield During Game Vs. Red Sox
This wasn’t the first time Kirby paid tribute to the Red Sox great
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby took a different approach with the first pitch he threw Wednesday evening against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
It was Kirby’s way of paying tribute to Red Sox great Tim Wakefield.
Kirby opened up his outing by tossing Wakefield’s signature knuckleball to leadoff hitter Jarren Duran. Kirby’s knuckler certainly wasn’t as polished as Wakefield’s with the 73 mph pitch staying up and out of the zone for a ball.
This isn’t the first time Kirby honored Wakefield in this way. The 26-year-old threw a knuckleball in a game for the first time in the 2023 regular-season finale against Texas Ranger star Corey Seager. Wakefield died that day at the age of 57.
“I loved watching that guy throw, even though he’s a Red Sox player and I’m a born Yankee fan,” Kirby told reporters following that game, per MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer. “But yeah, it was a great day to throw it and I’m glad Seager missed it and didn’t take it deep. So, yeah that was fun.”
The rare knuckleball has already been seen on the mound at Fenway this season. San Diego Padres pitcher Michael Waldron, who was mentored by Wakefield, threw 31 of them during an emotional start against the Red Sox a month ago.
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Mariners’ Dipoto on top prospects staying put at deadline
When the dust settled at the MLB trade deadline, the Seattle Mariners came away with four new players to contribute to their push for an American League West title.
Drayer: Seattle Mariners navigated thin market for deadline adds
They also walked away with every big-name prospects in their loaded farm system.
In the weeks leading up to the deadline, it was widely thought at least, or more, of the organization’s touted, young players like Cole Young, Harry Ford or Colt Emerson would be shipped out for reinforcements. Instead, they’re staying put. That followed a trend that developed this season with none of Baseball America or MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects heading to new suitors.
Why exactly did that happen? President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto touched on the topic from the Mariners’ perspective during a conversation about the trade deadline with Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Wednesday.
Quantity over quality
The biggest deal Seattle made at the deadline was acquiring left fielder Randy Arozarena from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for prospects Aidan Smith, Brody Hopkins and a player to be named later.
Arozarena, a 2023 All-Star with club control through 2026, was one of the biggest bats to be dealt to any team. Yet, the Mariners, who have eight players ranked in Baseball American’s top 100 and six in MLB Pipeline’s, didn’t part with one of their top 100 prospects in the process.
Some of that has to do with the way teams value prospects as opposed to the scouting sites. Dipoto noted Baseball America and MLB Pipeline are fairly close to how teams see it but that Smith, who was previously ranked as Seattle’s No. 12 prospect by Pipeline, was somebody Seattle internally viewed as a top-10 prospect in its system.
