Passan: Kade Anderson a ‘generational gift’ to Mariners

Seattle Mariners pitching prospect Kade Anderson’s first season of professional baseball just keeps becoming more incredible with each start.

Anderson spun his latest gem on Friday, tossing six shutout innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts to only one walk for Double-A Arkansas. The outing extended his scoreless streak to 27 2/3 innings and lowered his ERA to a minuscule 1.02 in the process.

Mariners prospect Kade Anderson extends long scoreless streak

The left-hander leads the minor leagues in ERA and WHIP (0.65) and is second in strikeout rate (41.9%) this season, and seems destined to be the next great pitcher to ascend through the Mariners’ organization – which comes after everything lined up perfectly for the club to select the talented hurler No. 3 overall in last year’s draft.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan highlighted how lucky the Mariners were to land a “generational gift” like Anderson when he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk for his weekly conversation on Tuesday.

“He’s doing what the guy who everyone thought was the best player in the draft last year should be doing, and just the confluence of things that led Kade Anderson to the Mariners is pretty remarkable to look at,” Passan said.

Seattle’s good fortunes started well before the draft. In December 2024, they entered MLB’s draft lottery with the second-lowest odds of receiving the No. 1 overall pick, which essentially meant they were projected to land the No. 15 pick. But with a massive stroke of luck, the M’s jumped up 12 spots to No. 3 overall.

There was still no guarantee that Anderson would be a Mariner as the draft approached, though, with both the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels picking in front of them.

However, the Nationals fired longtime general manager Mike Rizzo a week before the draft and picked high school shortstop Eli Willits at No. 1 overall, and the Angels took college right-hander Tyler Bremner No. 2.

Passan said he believes Anderson was at the top of Rizzo’s draft board before he was fired.

Passan added that both Willits and Bremner have been very good in the minors since being drafted, but that it was clear both selections were made in an effort to save bonus pool money for other picks.

Ultimately, it all led to Anderson falling to the Mariners.

“All the smart draft people with whom I spoke last year said Kade Anderson’s the best player in this draft,” Passan said. “The fact that the Mariners, having won the lottery and ascended to that spot, have this guy fall into their laps, it is a generational gift.”

Perennial All-Star potential

When discussing Anderson’s future prospects, Passan heeded some caution by pointing to a popular acronym in baseball: TINTSTAAP. It stands for “there is no such thing as a pitching prospect.”

“The reason you say that is because pitching prospects get hurt, and pitching prospects, as they ascend levels, run into problems,” Passan said. “Pitching is just the most difficult thing in the game to predict, but I feel comfortable saying if Kade Anderson stays healthy, he’s going to be an All-Star for many years to come for the Mariners.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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