SEATTLE - The Mariners are turning to one of their most promising young arms as they try to square up their series with the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, and Kade Anderson’s early major league growing pains are still very much part of the story.
Anderson, Seattle’s top prospect, is set for his fourth start of the season at 1:10 p.m. PT.
The 22-year-old has already been through a bumpy opening stretch in the majors, posting a 5.40 ERA with 11 strikeouts over 15 innings in his first three outings. That comes after he carved up the college game and Double-A with the Arkansas Travelers, and after a championship-winning 2025 season with the LSU Tigers that had him arriving in Seattle with plenty of momentum.
For manager Dan Wilson, the results haven’t shaken the bigger picture.
"Like we've seen with a lot of our younger guys, (Anderson has an ability to) not let things get too heavy for him," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Wednesday. "Particularly when he's out there competing.
He is a competitor. ... Obviously we see the great stuff, but (today's) a chance for him to use all his weapons and use them effectively.
I think there's a little bit of a learning curve there between he and the catchers, but I think, for the most part, that has gone pretty smoothly."
Wilson also framed Anderson’s first few starts as part of the usual adjustment period, not a reason for alarm.
"As dominant as he was, I'm sure there were outings where he understood what stress pitches and stress innings were about," Wilson said. "It's different here.
No question he's getting some opportunities to face that. ... It's all a part of the learning process and I think he's doing a good job of it."
Anderson isn’t the only Mariners top 100 prospect making noise in the big leagues right now. Lazaro Montes, Seattle’s 21-year-old outfielder/designated hitter, has been making his own adjustments - and one of them made a little bit of history Tuesday night.
Montes was not in Wednesday’s lineup, but he’s coming off a 474-foot blast to dead-center field in Seattle’s 10-5 loss to Texas. That homer was the longest ever hit at T-Mobile Park in the Statcast era.
The shot came in his second at-bat of the night. His first ended in a strikeout after a nine-pitch battle, and Wilson said the rookie handled the shift in approach well.
"He's coming in as a smart hitter to begin with and knows himself, knows his swing," Wilson said. "I think we were all very impressed with the adjustments he made yesterday.
I think a lot of it is just understanding the pitchers here. ... I think the more information (Montes) takes in and understands when he goes up there, the better.
And I think he did a really good job of taking all that in and then going right up there and using it."
Seattle still doesn’t know whether either young player will get a chance to show off on a postseason stage, with the club still outside a playoff spot. But Anderson and Montes are already part of the Mariners’ immediate picture, and whatever they learn during this month in the majors figures to matter just as much as the numbers on the scoreboard.
In Other News...
Mariners Offseason Bet Looks Worse As Playoff Hopes Fade
Seattles playoff picture has thinned to the point where even a strong finish would have to do a lot of heavy lifting. At 67-78 and 6.5 games behind the Guardians in the Wild Card race, the Mariners are staring at an uphill climb, and the season-long issues on offense have been a major reason why.
Josh Naylor was brought back on a five-year deal as part of the clubs attempt to add dependable production, but his numbers have not matched the standard he set in his best year with Cleveland. In a season where the lineup has already fallen short of expectations, that kind of underperformance has only made the Mariners offseason bet look tougher to justify as the games run out. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Naylor Has Become A Real Mariners Offseason Dilemma
Josh Naylors first season with the Mariners has given the front office a real winter conversation to have. The 29-year-old has still done a lot of the contact-driven work that has defined his game, but his overall offensive output has slipped from the levels hes established in the past. Home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS are all down, and for a lineup that expected more impact from that spot, the gap has been hard to ignore.
The odd part is that the underlying shape of his at-bats has not changed all that much. Naylor is still making plenty of contact and keeping strikeouts low, but his aggressive style has led him into more pitches outside the zone, and the quality of the contact has suffered because of it. For Seattle, that creates a tricky offseason question: how much weight to give the steadiness of his approach versus the reality that the production hasnt matched it. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Raleigh's Surge May Not Be Enough To Avoid Mariners History
Cal Raleighs late-season surge has given the Mariners something to feel better about, even if it arrived after a long stretch of offensive frustration. Through Aug. 1, his season had been dragged down by a 70 wRC+ slump, but since then he has looked much more like the middle-of-the-order threat Seattle needed, with a 169 wRC+ and 10 home runs along with four doubles.
Still, the bigger picture has not disappeared. Raleigh is sitting at .184 after 458 plate appearances, and the Mariners are staring at the possibility of one of the rarest kind of club history if that number holds. Evan White remains the only qualified Mariner to finish a season below .200, and Raleighs recent improvement may be enough to keep him from joining that particular list, but the margin is thin enough to keep the question alive. [Read more 🡒]