Baseball America’s August refresh brought a little movement for two of the Mariners’ most interesting young arms.
Kade Anderson climbed from No. 8 to No. 6 in the latest rankings, while Ryan Sloan slipped from No. 6 to No. 9 after the publication adjusted its list following the Major League Baseball draft in mid-July. That earlier post-draft reset had pushed Anderson down to No. 8 and kept Sloan at No. 6 before Wednesday’s update changed the picture again.
The top of the list now looks like this: Jesus Made of the Milwaukee Brewers at No. 1, Franklin Arias of the Boston Red Sox at No.
2, Leo De Vries of the Athletics at No. 3, Josue De Paula of the Los Angeles Dodgers at No.
4, Theo Gillen of the Tampa Bay Rays at No. 5, Anderson at No.
6, Roch Cholowsky of the Chicago White Sox at No. 7, Seth Hernandez of the Pittsburgh Pirates at No.
8, Sloan at No. 9 and Walker Jenkins of the Minnesota Twins at No. 10.
Anderson’s rise is easy to understand. The No. 3 overall pick out of LSU in the 2025 draft has been overwhelming hitters in his first taste of pro ball, tearing through Double-A with the Arkansas Travelers.
He’s 9-1 with a 1.20 ERA in 16 starts, and the strikeout numbers jump off the page: 119 punchouts against just 12 walks in 82.1 innings. Opponents are hitting only .149 against him.
He also represented the Mariners in the Futures Game and worked a scoreless inning there.
The expectation is that Anderson could reach Seattle this season, though Jerry Dipoto made it clear he isn’t planning to move him to the bullpen until September, if at all. The organization is still building him up as a starter, and that’s the lane he’ll stay in.
Sloan remains right in the mix, even with the slight drop in the rankings. A second-round pick in 2024, the 20-year-old is also pitching at Double-A Arkansas and has handled a tougher adjustment than Anderson, but the talent is still obvious.
He’s 2-2 with a 3.50 ERA over 72.0 innings, with 88 strikeouts and 15 walks. Opponents are batting .256 against him.
He’s also the youngest pitcher in Double-A this year and, like Anderson, appeared in the Futures Game with a scoreless outing. There’s a chance he could help the Mariners this season, though the path forward could be limited as the year goes on.
Elsewhere on Baseball America’s list, Laz Montes is at No. 58 and Felnin Celesten is at No. 98.
The Mariners will try to bounce back Wednesday after a discouraging 8-0 loss on Tuesday, taking on the Detroit Tigers at 6:40 p.m. PT. Seattle is 55-59 and sits 3.5 games back in the American League West and 2.0 back in the wild card, as of this posting.
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