While the Seattle Mariners were coming out on the right end of a 12-8 shootout win against the Chicago White Sox on Friday at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
While the Mariners offense was hitting four home runs (two from outfielder Luke Raley), the best pitching prospect in the organization was continuing what has been an elite first season in the minor leagues.
Left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson started for the Double-A Arkansas Travelers (who were playing under their alternate identity of the Mad Mallards) against the Tulsa Drillers on Friday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Ark.
For the Mallards, Anderson struck out nine batters, walked one and allowed one earned run on two hits (one home run) in 5.2 innings pitched. It was his first homer allowed through six outings this year.
The Mallards won the game 5-1.
After his outings against the Drillers on Friday, Anderson has a 3-0 record and a 0.60 ERA with 47 fanned batters in 30 innings pitched across six starts.
Anderson was selected by Seattle with the third overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft out of LSU. Upon his selection, Anderson was considered the most major league-ready pitching prospect by many analysts.
The former NCAA College World Series Most Outstanding Player didn't pitch in a professional game his first summer with the Mariners. He was extended a non-roster invite to spring training in 2026 and was assigned to Double-A for his first professional season.
Anderson has received a lot of praise from various publications and is already regarded as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. MLB Pipeline has Anderson ranked as the second-best lefty starter and the 14th-best prospect in baseball.
Baseball America has Anderson ranked as the ninth-best prospect in baseball and the second-highest ranked left-handed pitcher.
Neither Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander have ruled out Anderson making his major league debut this season, but there's no apparent rush to bring him up.
"The beauty of development is that there doesn’t have to be a rush," Dipoto said in an article written by Adam Jude of the Seattle Times. "There is no end game. There is no promotion date. There is a (process of) just go out and get better at what you’re doing."
Dipoto said in Jude's article that the team is looking to see how Anderson responds when he hits his first bump in the road. But if he continues to go at the rate he is, then the Mariners might not have a choice but to see how his amazing minor league season translates to the major league level.
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