George Kirby, Logan Gilbert progressing in recovery from injuries for Seattle Mariners

SEATTLE - Seattle Mariners general manager Justin Hollander delivered positive updates on the recoveries of starting pitchers George Kirby and Logan Gilbert ahead of this weekend's series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Kirby will make his second rehab start in Triple-A on Saturday after a sharp first outing last week. Hollander said Kirby will likely need a third outing as well before he's ready to rejoin the Major League rotation.

"He didn't have a spring training, so the idea of going out there and not having experienced a lot of things that you would experience over a typical spring training, and building up – not just the ability to go throw 75 or 90 pitches in an outing, but then how that makes you feel and being able to repeat it the next time five days later is important."

Kirby tossed three innings for the Rainiers with a run allowed on a lone home run with four strikeouts. Kirby was shut down by the Mariners in spring training due to right shoulder inflammation.

"Super encouraged," Hollander said. "He was awesome. Like, really good. Almost an identical carbon copy of what we saw out here on the live BP. Stuff was awesome, like 96-98 (mph) wit the secondary pitches looking in midseason form. Tons of strikes. It was really efficient, really good. So very excited. And he felt great afterward, which is the most encouraging thing." 

Gilbert's return isn't as close as Kirby, but the team remains hopeful that they avoided major injury when he exited a game against the Miami Marlins on April 25 with a right elbow flexor strain.

"We went through a whole array of imaging and everything looked good," Hollander said. "So really feel good about where he's at and how he's progressed, and hopefully today's a good day, and we can talk about hitting the mound next week."

Gilbert was set to throw prior to Friday's game against Toronto. If that went well, Hollander expected Gilbert would progress to throwing off a mound before the end of the homestand on Wednesday.

"If that progresses well, he could touch the mound by the end of this homestand and throw some sort of bullpen, or just throw off the mound," Hollander said. "Again, taking it throwing session by throwing session. But the plan is, if it goes well today, that he would throw off a mound before the end of the homestand."

The Mariners have continued to thrive without two of their best starters in the rotation. Seattle has the best record in baseball since April 6, posting a 19-7 mark that includes 153 runs scored, which trails only the 163 of the Detroit Tigers for the most over that span.

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Outside of losing reliever Trent Thornton to appendicitis surgery, Hollander's updates were mostly positive across the board.

Thornton went on the 15-day injured list on Friday after having surgery to remove his appendix after not feeling well in recent days. They were able to catch the issue before the appendix ruptured, which will make the recovery process easier, though it will still take multiple weeks.

"We don't have an exact timeframe. Some of that will be determined by how quickly he can resume throwing," Hollander said, noting it's likely closer to three weeks than the minimum 15 days. "From what I understand, He's already itching to go do that. He feels much better already after the surgery last night. He's a super-competitive guy and wants to be out there. It'll be a couple weeks, though, at a minimum."

The team recalled reliever Troy Taylor from Triple-A Tacoma to take Thornton's spot on the roster. Taylor has appeared in four games for Seattle this season, allowing four runs on six hits with two strikeouts in three innings pitched.

The remaining updates were on the longer-term injuries.

Reliever Jackson Kowar is set to join Triple-A Tacoma and will make his first game appearances in the Mariners' organization after being acquired in a trade in December 2023. Kowar has been sidelined since March 2024 due to recovery from Tommy John surgery.

"He's doing great. Stuff looks awesome," Hollander said. "He will pitch out of the bullpen on sort of a regular schedule for the duration of May, before we talk about an activation time. … He's doing great, has (had) very few speed bumps along the way, and really feel good about where his stuff is at, where his endurance is at. So super excited."

Outfielder Victor Robles will have a CT scan at the six-week mark on his dislocated left shoulder to assess his recovery. Robles was injured making an incredible catch against the San Francisco Giants on April 6, so the six-week mark will be around May 19.

"He will get a CT scan at six weeks to make sure that everything is healing well. If it is, then he can start the strengthening process," Hollander said. "My understanding from talking to our medical people is that it's strength and mobility need to happen over the next six weeks from that point. When you're immobilized for that long, when you have that traumatic type of injury in your shoulder, it just takes time for those to come back. So we'll reassess along the way, but everything so far has looked good and we'll see where it's at on the six-week CT scan."

Outfielder/first baseman Luke Raley is making progress from his strained right oblique and is expected to head to the team's facility in Peoria, Ariz. at the end of the upcoming homestand.

"Had a really positive last few days, starting to feel better," Hollander said.

Raley injured his oblique in early batting practice on April 27.

"Sometimes with obliques, especially as hard as Luke swings, you want to balance how he's feeling with risking re-injury. So it'll be a while still, but he's progressing really well. I'm really excited about the update today," Hollander said.

Second baseman Ryan Bliss remains in Arizona doing rehab on his torn left biceps, and reliever Greogry Santos is likely out until after the All-Star Break as he recovers from right knee surgery.

"This was more of a cleanup," Hollander said. "If he were to have a setback or it wouldn't go well, we'd be talking about something different than a cleanup, so we want to make sure that we're we're giving it the best possible chance to last for a while and not have it be a quick setback, because he pushes too fast, too soon."

Additionally, left-handed reliever Tayler Saucedo was placed on the minor league injured list with a left lat strain that is "more of a Grade 1" strain.

"Fortunately, it seems like we avoided, like, a really bad outcome. He'll be down for a couple weeks, and then build back up from there," Hollander said.

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