PEORIA, Ariz. -- George Kirby halted the interview before it even began.

“Can we move over here so I can watch Isaiah throw?” the Mariners top pitching prospect requested reporters, as he paced five steps to his right to take a direct sight of the mound on Field 2 at the Peoria Sports Complex.

Kirby’s zeal is reflective of the collective blend of excitement and hope surrounding his good buddy, Isaiah Campbell, as he took the mound for just the second time since beginning Minor League camp. Jitters would be high for anyone in spring, but that’s particularly true for Campbell, who hadn’t faced live hitters since being shut down last June due to bone chips in his pitching elbow and a cleanup of the back of his ulnar bone, which required season-ending surgery.

The fastball-slider combo was solid; his heater rising into the mid-90s with good life. He snapped the breaking ball in for strikes and worked in his curveball here and there. The delivery was clean and repeatable. When he left the mound, there was a literal and metaphorical exhale.

"I definitely was super nervous,” said Campbell, Seattle’s No. 18 prospect. “Seeing that batter for the first time, you can get those nerves again, but it's good to have early on. ... Today, I felt way more comfortable. I just really just got more comfortable with a batter in the box, feeling more just like my old self. Just being able to be confident, trust everything, go right after hitters.”

At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds with a solid, high three-quarters arm slot, Campbell has the makeup that scouts drool over. But health and high workloads in college have halted his career from getting off the ground.

Campbell was drafted in the second round in 2019, one round after Kirby, but he’s made just five starts since, all last year. The Mariners opted to shut him down immediately after drafting him due to his incredibly high workload (118 1/3 innings) at the University of Arkansas earlier that spring. And Campbell was one of the many whose development was impacted by the cancellation of the Minors season in '20.

In that small glimpse last summer, Campbell limited opposing hitters to a .194/.273/.328 (.601 OPS) slash line, with 20 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings, over which he compiled a 2.33 ERA. In four seasons at Arkansas, he had a 3.15 ERA with 224 strikeouts, 63 walks and a 1.139 WHIP over 220 1/3 innings.

Yet his massive stop-and-go over the past three years makes his innings allocation among the most challenging for the Mariners to forecast, especially given that they’ll have restrictions on him due to his elbow history, as he had a similar issue during his sophomore year at Arkansas. A ballpark for 2022 might be in the range of 80-100 innings, but the club will likely constantly assess his need for down time.

“Three years, that's a long time to not get a full season and not get out there competing and stuff,” Campbell said. “It's an unfortunate event with COVID and everything that's been going on, but I'm just happy and thankful to be out here healthy and being able to compete.

“We take it for granted sometimes. And when you really miss a couple seasons, and you're at home with your parents hanging out, you're in the middle of June, July, and you're like, ‘Wow, I really want to be out there playing baseball.' I mean, we get to have fun doing our job.”

Campbell made the most out of his down time going all the way back to the 2020 shutdown. He assisted with a literacy program with former Mariners icon Dan Wilson, whose wife works for a Seattle-area school district and launched the initiative. Campbell read to children with reading disabilities through Zoom when in-person restrictions were in place. And he was recognized at T-Mobile Park during the final week of the regular season last year with the 2021 Dan Wilson Community Service Award.

“His passion for the program was evident and everyone involved benefited from his involvement,” Wilson said at the time. “Whether it is on the field or off of the field, Isaiah continues to lead the way with setting a standard for what it means to be a Mariner.”

As he continues to rise through the system, Campbell could become one of the Mariners' more recognizable players. He pitches while wearing glasses that are as thick as his well-groomed mustache, which requires regular maintenance.

“The family, the girlfriend, everyone, I haven't heard any complaints yet,” Campbell said of his 'stache. “I think the girlfriend's a big one, if she didn't like it, it might be coming off, but she likes it.”

It’s a look that he’s had for years -- and one he hopes to eventually take to the Majors.