The Mariners aren’t looking at Kade Anderson as a bullpen fix. They’re looking at him as the next starter in line.
That distinction matters, especially now that Luis Castillo is gone and Seattle is carrying a standard five-man rotation. Anderson has moved up to No. 6 on the depth chart, and the club’s front office is set to meet this week to sort out how the left-hander might fit into the big-league picture during the push for a playoff spot.
For now, though, the answer is clear: don’t expect a relief role.
“We're not going to put Kade in the bullpen,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “He's the best starting pitcher in the Minor Leagues.
I think he leads the Minor Leagues in everything, not [just] the Texas League, but [all of] the Minor Leagues. And he is trending in every way you can.”
The numbers back up the hype. Among 235 qualified minor-league pitchers, Anderson ranks first in strikeout-to-walk rate at 36.4%, strikeout rate at 40.5% and FIP at 1.88. He’s second in ERA at 1.20 and OPS against at .408.
MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the No. 5 prospect in baseball, and he’s No. 1 in the Mariners’ system. The No. 3 overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft has been exactly what the organization hoped for at Double-A Arkansas, where he’s logged 82 1/3 innings over 16 starts this season.
Seattle’s bigger concern is keeping him on a track that protects his long-term workload. Anderson threw 119 innings last year at LSU, then added 16 more in the College World Series, where he was named Most Outstanding Player. The Mariners appear to be aiming for that 135-inning neighborhood this season, a number that would set him up for an even larger jump in 2027 and, eventually, a permanent spot in the big-league rotation sometime next year.
Dipoto made it plain that compressing Anderson’s workload now would come at too high a cost.
“For us to put him in a bullpen right now would be irresponsible for his future development,” Dipoto said. “There is going to come a time where we get to a juncture in the season where we're no longer concerned.
Right now, he is the next starter up. And for us, that is an important element, especially now with Luis no longer here.”
The most natural opening for Anderson would come around Sept. 1, when rosters expand from 26 to 28. If Seattle is still in the race and its current rotation stays healthy, the Mariners could slide Anderson into the mix and shift to a six-man setup.
September’s schedule also helps the case. The Mariners have only three off-days that month, and the extra rest could matter for the staff, just as it has at other points since the club last used a piggyback arrangement on June 19.
Dipoto pointed to the Dodgers doing something similar last year as they prepared their starters for a deep run that stretched into November.
“There are five traditional starters on the Major League club, and having a guy like Kade in the background is a really positive thing,” Dipoto said. “So, to shorten him up would not be something we would consider.”
There is still room for the plan to change if Anderson is close to his workload target when September arrives, though Seattle has not publicly set a firm innings limit. In that case, the Mariners could explore a different usage pattern, but not one that begins with a bullpen assignment.
“We may get into September, if we don't need to tap the extra starter, now we can talk about more creative things,” Dipoto said. “But we're not going to plan on a [reliever] runway. We're more likely to be creative in how we use him as a Major Leaguer, once he gets here.”
For Seattle, the appeal is obvious: Anderson offers real upside now and even more down the road. And according to Dipoto, the lefty keeps checking every box.
“There's extra velocity,” Dipoto said. “The precision has come so far, even since the day he signed. He's doing everything we could possibly expect or ask him.”
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