Kade Anderson arrived with plenty of hype, and the Mariners hoped he might steady a season that needed a lift. Instead, the rookie starter has already hit the first real wall of his big league education - and that may end up being the most useful part of this stretch.
Anderson was coming off a 1.06 ERA at Double-A Arkansas and had already earned a spot in the MLB Futures Game, which had Mariners fans looking at him as a possible quick fix. But the first three outings have looked more like a lesson than a rescue mission. He allowed three earned runs in 4.2 innings against the Chicago Cubs in his debut, couldn’t get out of the fifth in his second start against the Toronto Blue Jays, and then gave up four earned runs over five innings in Thursday’s rough loss to a bad Athletics team.
That latest one stung because Seattle was in position. The Mariners led 3-2 in the fifth when Anderson recorded the first two outs, then ran into trouble with a walk, a single and a stolen base. Lawrence Butler followed with a single that brought home both runners and put the A’s ahead for good.
The encouraging part is that Anderson already looks like a pitcher with real substance. His pitch mix works, and it works for a reason.
He isn’t just blowing fastballs by people and hoping for the best. There’s a difference between a guy who throws hard and a guy who actually knows how to pitch, and Anderson clearly has the latter foundation.
He understands the strike zone, he sequences well, and he seems to have a strong sense of who he is on the mound.
The next step is figuring out how that plays against big league hitters. Anderson has the confidence to attack, and that approach served him well at LSU and in the Texas League.
But at this level, especially with his 93-95 mph velocity, the middle of the plate gets punished fast. Against the A’s, he spent too much time there, and Butler made him pay for it.
That at-bat was the clearest example. Anderson fell behind 2-1, then left a pitch belt high - exactly the kind of mistake that becomes dangerous at his velocity.
He’ll need to live more on the edges, work lower in the zone, and force hitters to do more of the damage themselves. Getting the ball over is only part of the job.
Quality strikes matter more.
There’s still plenty of reason to believe Anderson will sort through this. He should come back next season with a better read on how his stuff translates in the majors, and he may also arrive with more velocity, which would give him a wider margin for error.
For now, this is the learning curve. None of it is wasted.
He may not be the savior Mariners fans were hoping for, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be really good down the line.
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