PEORIA, Ariz. -- Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby, dealing with shoulder inflammation, has been shut down from throwing and will likely be placed on the IL, general manager Justin Hollander announced on Friday. An MRI showed no structural damage.

Hollander spoke to the media Friday afternoon about the club’s decision to put Kirby on the shelf for the time being.

“We did an MRI,” Hollander said. “The MRI looks great. No structural concerns whatsoever. There is some inflammation in there that we need to get out. So, much to George's chagrin, we're going to take the ball out of his hands. George wants to keep going, and he's going to lose this argument.

“We need the inflammation out, so we will shut George down and work on getting the inflammation out. 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.”

The Mariners did not lay out a specific timeline for Kirby’s recovery, but Hollander did note that the 2023 All-Star will likely open the regular season on IL and miss the season’s first two weeks.

“I would not anticipate that he's ready for the first 10 days, two weeks of the season, [and] that he is on IL at the start of the year,” Hollander said. “We will build him up in a really thoughtful way to make sure that he is not dealing with something for the entirety of the season.”

According to Hollander, Kirby did not agree with the decision and wanted to keep pitching. The Mariners, however, erred on the side of caution.

“There were multiple people who had to tell him, from what I understood,” Hollander said. “His treatment option was, ‘Do nothing. Keep pitching. I’m fine.’ The smart people that work with us in our high-performance group [and] the people that represent George -- everyone was aligned that playing the long game is the smartest thing to do. And I think after the fifth conversation, George got on board with that.”

Kirby was not made available to speak to media on Friday.

“What makes George great is his competitiveness, and [his] wanting to be on the mound and wanting the ball in his hand,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Friday. “And that’s what makes him great and that’s what’s brought him to this level. So that’s always going to be a tough conversation with George, but he handled it well.

“I think we’re doing the right thing here and giving him some rest and letting that cool down, and then we’ll go from there. We know that George will be ready and anxious to get started up again.”

With Kirby sidelined, 25-year-old Emerson Hancock got the start in the Mariners’ Friday evening game against the Dodgers at the Peoria Stadium. Seattle selected Hancock with the sixth overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Georgia. Hancock could see an increased role with Kirby out to start the season.

“As far as Emerson is concerned, this is a luxury that we have in some ways, and we saw it towards the end of the year last year,” Wilson said. “When [Luis Castillo] had the hamstring injury, Emerson came up and pitched two really good ballgames for us, and he’s had a good camp so far down here at Spring Training. So we’re excited that he’s able to fill that right now, and I know he’s excited about it, as well.”

Hancock made 12 starts last season, logging a 4.75 ERA across 60 2/3 innings. Wilson likes his team’s chances with Hancock on the bump. He’s been impressed with what he’s seen out of the right-hander this spring.

“As we’ve talked about with a lot of these guys, they’ve put a lot of the work in,” Wilson said. “This offseason, he definitely did the work that he wanted. He came into camp and [his velocity] is up. He’s found another gear on that fastball.

“We talk so much about this group and how they push each other, and Emerson is one of those guys that is always there for the bullpens. He’s always watching, he’s always learning. He strikes me as a guy who’s more of a student of pitching, and he really soaks it all up and then makes it a part of his game. He’s a guy that is always pushing to improve, so this is an opportunity for him to go out there and continue to do the things that he’s been working on and continue to get better.”