SEATTLE -- The Mariners’ prospect stock got a major boost Monday night when MLB Pipeline released its adjusted Top 100 rankings, and the numbers at the top tell the story: Seattle now has three players in the Top 10.
Kade Anderson led the way, jumping to No. 5 overall and taking over as the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball. Right behind him is Colt Emerson at No. 6, though that ranking figure to disappear soon now that he’s settled in as an everyday big leaguer. Ryan Sloan followed at No. 9, giving the Mariners a rare cluster of high-end talent near the front of the list.
That kind of concentration is almost unheard of. Since Pipeline launched its Top 100 in 2004, only one other club had placed three players in the Top 10 at the same time before Monday: the 2014 Cubs in a midseason update, when Kris Bryant, Javier Báez and Addison Russell all landed there together. Seattle is now only the second organization to do it in the 23-year run of these rankings.
For the Mariners, it’s also familiar territory in a smaller sense. They had two Top 10 prospects at once on the 2021 preseason list with Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodríguez, and again on the 2012 midseason list with Taijuan Walker and Danny Hultzen. Walker was also the club’s previous top pitching prospect before Anderson claimed that title.
Anderson’s rise fits the production he’s put together at Arkansas and the reputation he brought with him after going No. 3 overall in last year’s MLB Draft. He has struck out at least eight hitters in eight of his 13 starts, piling up 99 strikeouts total.
That’s second-most in the Minors, one behind Seth Hernandez of the Pirates, whom Anderson just passed in the rankings. His 1.22 ERA is also second in the Minors, trailing only Anthony Eyanson’s 1.07.
Sloan has taken a different route to the same neighborhood. His 4.11 ERA doesn’t jump off the page, but the stuff and the strike-throwing remain loud.
In his second pro season after being taken No. 55 overall in the 2024 MLB Draft, he has 72 strikeouts, a 30.3% strikeout rate and just 12 walks, good for a 5% walk rate. He and Anderson have also become close friends.
The other big mover in the system was shortstop Felnin Celesten, who made one of the day’s biggest leaps, going from No. 96 to No. 76. Celesten backed up that climb by hitting for the cycle in Game 1 of a doubleheader Thursday for High-A Everett, doing it in a seven-inning game.
His season with Everett has been a sharp turn from the end of 2025. After a modest run with Single-A Modesto briefly knocked him off the Top 100, he went just 6-for-38 with 15 strikeouts after arriving with the AquaSox. But there were signs of real progress beyond the box score: his ground-ball rate dropped from 64.9% in 2024 to 45% last year, and he stayed off the injured list entirely after dealing with health issues in his first two seasons.
Seattle’s depth didn’t stop there. Outfielder Lazaro Montes checked in at No. 28, infielder/outfielder Michael Arroyo at No. 45 and outfielder Jonny Farmelo at No.
- That gives the Mariners seven players in the Top 100, second only to the Dodgers’ nine.
On the prospect-points scale, though, Seattle sits at the top of the sport.
This wasn’t a full reset of the rankings. That comes after the Draft and the signing deadline in August. Monday’s update was a reworking of the board based on how player outlooks and statuses have shifted since the preseason list came out in January.
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