There’s more to top Mariners prospect Kade Anderson than the numbers

Hours before the Seattle Mariners were to walk off the field in Milwaukee with a historic 22-0 shellacking to their name, Mariners director of player development Justin Toole joined the team, wrapping up a two-week trip visiting the minor league affiliates and checking in on the new draft picks in Arizona.

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Included in the grand tour was a stop in Arkansas, where he was able to spend time with the Double-A Travelers and put eyes for a few days on Kade Anderson, last year’s No. 3 overall MLB Draft pick who many hope to see in Seattle before the season ends.

Anderson currently leads the minor leagues in most pitching categories including ERA (1.06), strikeout rate (40.5%) and average against (.147). The numbers speak volumes about where Anderson is in his progression to the big leagues. But off the page, much has been learned about the top pitching prospect in his short time in the organization.

“The compete’s in there,” Toole said on the Mariners radio pregame show Tuesday. “And I think the cool part with the success that he’s had and the numbers and the stats that he’s put up, you would never have any idea he’s continually finding what he would say are holes in his game and finding ways to sharpen the blade, so to speak. Nobody has higher standards for himself than himself.”

Spend any time with Anderson and you see the drive and the focus. There is more however that has excited the Mariners.

“I think one of the things that’s kind of gone unknown throughout the course of the season, it’s been mentioned a little bit, is the relationship between him and Ryan Sloan,” Toole said, referring to Seattle’s other top pitching prospect in Arkansas. “He’s helped Sloaner so much throughout the course of the year. So not only is he taking care of stuff on his plate, but he’s a team leader, pitching staff leader. And he’s definitely been more than just solid himself. He’s helped that group down there in Arkansas so much.”

The pairing of Anderson and Sloan together in Arkansas from the start of the minor league season was intentional. With each ranked as the top pitching prospect in the game by one outlet – MLB Pipeline has Anderson above all other pitchers at No. 5 overall while Baseball America made Sloan its top pitcher at No. 7 – they can push and compete with each other. But in a perfect scenario, they can also learn from one another.

Toole pointed out the path of the two is very different with the 20-year-old Sloan drafted out of high school in the second round in 2024 and the 22-year-old Anderson coming from a top college program, having won Most Outstanding Player in LSU’s College World Series championship run last year. Anderson has years and experience that can benefit his potential big league rotation mate.

“(Anderson) is helping (Sloan) speed up the maturity process of the routines, what goes into each and every day in terms of what am I working on, what am I focused on,” Toole said. “It’s important to have goals, the near-term goals and the long-term goals. And that’s something that I think Sloaner has really done a great job with this year is learning from Kade about what can I do in the moment to get better right now, but also what can I do throughout the course of the next six weeks to continue to get better as I move towards the big leagues. He’s learned so much and has done such a great job this year, and having a guy in your corner like Kade, it’s been awesome for him.”

By all indications, Anderson has shown the Mariners everything they hoped to see and more in his first professional season. Whether or not that results in his big league callup this year remains to be seen. There are other pieces of the equation that carry weight in the decision-making process, including a carefully planned and managed workload, the team’s postseason chances, and very likely the impact the impending lockout could have on Anderson’s development (teams are not allowed to have any contact with players on their 40-man roster during a lockout, and those players cannot work out at team facilities).

Anderson’s future in the Mariners’ rotation is assured. The question is when.

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