Mariners top pick Anderson strikes out 3 in ‘impressive’ debut

Kade Anderson excelled on college baseball’s biggest stage during LSU’s national title run last summer. And in recent weeks, he’s dazzled in live batting practice sessions, including one last weekend when he struck out Seattle Mariners stars Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez.

Mariners RHP Bryce Miller has setback with oblique issue

So no, the Mariners’ top pitching prospect wasn’t intimidated when he took the hill for his highly anticipated Cactus League debut.

Anderson, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, struck out three of the seven batters he faced during a 30-pitch outing in the Mariners’ 7-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Saturday. The 21-year-old left-hander showcased his four-pitch arsenal while generating eight swing-and-misses – three with his changeup, three with his four-seam fastball and two with his slider.

“It was just another game for me,” Anderson said. “I think when you have that mindset, it makes it a lot easier on yourself. You don’t have as much nerves.”

Anderson began by striking out five-time Silver Slugger Award winner and four-time All-Star shortstop Xander Bogaerts on three pitches. The 6-foot-2 LSU product got Bogaerts to chase a high first-pitch fastball and a low second-pitch changeup, and then painted the outside of the zone with a well-placed fastball for a called third strike.

Anderson then gave up an infield single to Jackson Merrill and a full-count walk to Nick Castellanos, but bounced right back with two more strikeouts. He got veteran Miguel Andujar to chase a low-and-away 1-2 changeup and then fanned Gavin Sheets on three pitches with back-to-back sliders and a fastball that dotted the lower-outside corner of the zone.

“He’s got four plus pitches,” Raleigh said. “I mean, those are all real pitches that you can throw to both sides of the plate. Polished, very impressive. He can locate the ball, he can command it, he can throw off-speed in the zone for strikes.

“He was using different pitches and being able to attack hitters different ways,” Raleigh added. “And I mean, you could tell, he had some swing-and-miss stuff, and (batters) didn’t look too comfortable in there.”

After coming back out for the second inning, Anderson surrendered a groundball base hit to Freddy Fermin and a line-drive double to Jake Cronenworth, which ended his day at 30 pitches. He received a nice ovation from the Peoria Stadium crowd as he walked back to the dugout.

“Really good to see Kade out there,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I thought in the first inning, obviously, striking out the side, looked pretty impressive. And really good to see him compete like that. Second inning, a little bit different. I think probably wanted to attack the zone a little bit more. But outside of that, I thought it was just an outstanding first outing for him.”

Anderson is ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 21 overall prospect and Baseball America’s No. 25 overall prospect. The Louisiana native starred in LSU’s national title run last season, posting a 3.18 ERA with 180 strikeouts and 35 walks over 119 innings, capped by a three-hit shutout in Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series finals.

Related: Why top 2 Mariners pitching prospects have Cal’s attention

Anderson didn’t pitch in the minors last summer due to his heavy workload at LSU, but he’s considered the most MLB-ready pitcher in his draft class and could move quickly through Seattle’s system.

“I thought he threw the ball great,” Raleigh said. “It’s tough too, like, getting in that game environment – everything’s different. Everything speeds up. But he seemed pretty composed and under control. So I thought it was a good day for him.”

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Notebook: Seattle Mariners top pick Anderson set for highly anticipated debut
• Why Morosi says George Kirby can put Seattle Mariners over the top this year
• Seattle Mariners GM: Cole Young ‘showing us that he’s ready’
• GM: Where Seattle Mariners stand on Logan Gilbert contract talks
• Jose Ferrer hopes to bring fun and ‘muchos ceros’ to Seattle Mariners’ bullpen

Related

Bryan Woo goes 8 scoreless innings in 2-0 Mariners win over A’sSeattle Mariners call up top prospect Michael ArroyoSeattle Sports Radio Info: How to find Apple Cup and Mariners gameMariners lose third straight to Athletics 6-2Top prospects among Mariners’ minor league standouts in AugustA’s hit four homers in third inning, beat Mariners 7-6