Kade Anderson, the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s Major League Baseball Draft and ranked as the No. 18 prospect by MLB Pipeline, made his Minor League debut on April 3 with Double-A Arkansas. Anderson struck out six batters over four scoreless innings in a game that ended with a 5-4 loss to Midland.
Anderson allowed five hits and one walk but managed to work out of trouble in each inning he pitched. He finished his outing after throwing 59 pitches, with 43 going for strikes and inducing twelve swings-and-misses. All six of his strikeouts were swinging.
The Mariners had delayed Anderson’s regular-season debut after he carried a heavy workload during his final season at Louisiana State University. Instead, he participated in exhibition games during Spring Training for Seattle, where he allowed five earned runs and recorded nine strikeouts over seven innings across three outings.
According to the club’s plan coming into spring, both Anderson and Ryan Sloan—Seattle’s No. 3 prospect—were expected to start the year at High-A Everett. However, strong performances during Spring Training led to both pitchers being assigned directly to Double-A Arkansas at the start of the season.
Sloan is scheduled to make his own Double-A debut soon after posting a 3.73 earned run average and a 1.16 WHIP over twenty-one starts between Single-A and High-A last season.
