M’s GM: Where things stand with top prospect Kade Anderson

The Seattle Mariners have been running a six-man starting rotation for much of this season, but they’re now down to five starting pitchers on their big league roster after trading Luis Castillo to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.

Could this mean the Mariners debut left-hander Kade Anderson, the top pitching prospect in all of baseball, is nearing?

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Mariners general manager Justin Hollander addressed the team’s approach with Anderson, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob just hours after the MLB trade deadline on Monday.

“He’s definitely in the mix,” Hollander said. “I think it’s safe to say he was our seventh starter three days ago and now he’s probably our sixth starter. And if there’s a time and a place where it makes sense for him to come to the big leagues, he’s ready any time.”

Anderson, who helped lead LSU to the College World Series title last year, has been beyond impressive this year with the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. In 16 starts, he is 9-1 with a 1.20 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, .149 opponent average, and 119 strikeouts to just 12 walks and one hit batter in 82 1/3 innings pitched. He has had a scoreless outing in 11 of his starts, and allowed much than two earned runs in just one game. He’s also less than two weeks removed from an outing where he struck out seven in five perfect innings.

“I know he’s emotionally capable of doing it. It’s hard to quibble with that he’s not ready physically to do it based on what he’s doing,” Hollander continued. “I think you could basically drop any major league pitcher in Double-A and they wouldn’t have performed as well as Kade Anderson has done. Like, if you put (two-time Cy Young Award winner) Jacob deGrom and had him pitch for the Arkansas Travelers, I’m guessing he would perform roughly like Kade Anderson has performed through the year.

“It’s unconscionably good how he’s performed. So Kade is definitely in the mix.”

"Kade is definitely in the mix…We'll see where it goes as we have conversations over the next week or so."#Mariners GM Justin Hollander spoke what the timeline may look like for top pitching prospect Kade Anderson on w/@WymanAndBob. https://t.co/zZ8fTUblbq pic.twitter.com/Ntx4wcYl7L

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) August 4, 2026

For now, Hollander said the Mariners are going back to a traditional five-man starting rotation made up of Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Emerson Hancock. The next step in regards to Anderson is to assess if there’s a way to have him make an “impact” this season for Seattle.

“Now that we’re through the deadline, we’ll sit down and we’ll map out a plan that makes the most sense for him to impact the big league team, if there’s a spot to do that,” Hollander said. “So he’s in the mix and we’ll see where it goes as we have conversations over the next week or so.”

Hear the full Wyman and Bob conversation with Mariners GM Justin Hollander in the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Wyman and Bob from 2-7 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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