Bob Stelton reacts to Mariners’ Kade Anderson callup

Bob Stelton discussed the timing of top pitching prospect Kade Anderson's promotion to Seattle.

Aug 21, 2026, 9:04 AM

Watch: REACTION: Mariners call up Kade Anderson | 2 mins

Kade Anderson, the top pitching prospect in baseball, is reportedly getting called up to make his much-anticipated major league debut for the Seattle Mariners on Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.

How will Kade Anderson promotion impact Mariners’ rotation?

Anderson, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, has had one of the most dominant minor league seasons in recent memory. The 22-year-old left-hander posted a dazzling 1.06 ERA over 18 starts in his pro debut for Double-A Arkansas, while racking up 135 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 93 1/3 innings.

After news of Anderson’s callup broke on Thursday, Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob gave his reaction. Below is a transcript of the video atop this post. It is edited for clarity.

“This is a guy who had nothing left to accomplish at Double-A. He had a 1.06 ERA there. He had 93 1/3 innings pitched and he had over 100 strikeouts and just 13 walks. He has dominated. There was nothing left for him to gain there.

“Now, why are the Mariners doing it now? We’re going to find out. I’m anxious to hear what the Mariners say, but Bryce Miller hasn’t looked right for a while now. The velocity is still there, but you look at his game results over the past month and a half, it just hasn’t been good. And that includes his last start. So I don’t know if it has anything to do with him.

“Maybe it had something to do with Bryan Woo, who threw 75 pitches in his last start and he was looking good, but he said something about some discomfort in his shoulder – although he made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal. So you got two pitchers there with some question marks around them.

“And then we saw George Kirby go out there and get lit up in the first inning of his last start. His last couple of starts have not been good.

“So, there are a few reasons within the rotation where maybe they felt like it was necessary to make this move at this particular moment. We knew they were going to make it at some point this year. They said as much. But maybe there was some urgency in this move now because of what we’re seeing with some of these guys in the rotation.

“But I can’t wait to see him. There’s nothing left for him to prove at the Double-A level and now he gets a taste of the big leagues against a team in the Cubs that is very good. They’re tied atop all of Major League Baseball in on-base percentage with the team the M’s just faced in the Milwaukee Brewers. So it’s a team that knows how to hit, knows how to get on base and create traffic.

“We’ll see how he handles it.”