Jerry Dipoto was adamant that Anderson isn't going to the bullpen any time soon, and that caught Buster Olney by surprise.
At the major league level, the Seattle Mariners are currently languishing.
Though they are still in contention because of a lackluster American League, that contention feels fleeting. Seattle enters play on Friday at 56-60 and in third place in the American League West, though they are just 3.0 games back in the division.
They are also just 1.5 games back in the battle for the third and final wild card spot.
However, the minor leagues tell a different story, as guys like Michael Arroyo, Lazaro Montes, Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan continue to have excellent seasons and continue to provide hope for the future.
In the case of Arroyo, he could be up this season, and in the case of Anderson, he almost assuredly will. However, it might not be in the role that we expected.
All season long, we've assumed that Anderson would come up at some point to fortify the M's bullpen for the stretch run and the playoffs. After working all year as a starter, we presumed that the M's would throttle down their top pitching prospect and let him finish off the year as a reliever, throwing additional innings, getting major league exposure and helping the 'pen.
However, this week, Jerry Dipoto made it clear that Anderson is not going to the bullpen any time soon. With the trade of Luis Castillo last week, Anderson is "next man up" in the rotation, and the team will not curtail his development by putting him in the bullpen at this time.
Dipoto's conviction in those comments took ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney by surprise as he joined the recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast:
Starting pitcher Kade Anderson 32 on the mound as The LSU Tigers take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in game 1 of the 2025 NCAA Div 1 Super Regional Baseball Championship at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA. Saturday, June 7, 2025. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect"Really interesting. And maybe it's partly because of what we talked about, right? The tepid response (at the trade deadline)
And if you're—because, of course, you know, he was the No. 3 pick in the draft in 2025, and you have the opportunity as an organization to wait to put them onto the 40-man roster and start their service time clock.
I could see, if you were the Mariners saying, 'boy, this team is not playing that great. Do we want to start the service time clock for a team that hasn't performed great, of this great talent?' I mean, it's clear that he probably could pitch in the big leagues right now. Okay, but do you want to start that service time clock now?
And with the labor situation next year, do you want to have that complicate what his timeline is going to be, the 40-man roster in the offseason? All those things are up in the air right now, I think, because of the labor situation.
And again, I haven't gone into it in terms of debriefing with people in the Mariners, but I'm curious to see what I hear."
To Olney's point, Anderson has roared through the Double-A ranks in his first exposure to professional baseball. He is now the No. 6 prospect in the sport, according to Baseball America.
He's 9-1 with a 1.20 ERA in 16 starts for the Arkansas Travelers. In 82.1 innings, he has 119 strikeouts and just 12 walks, and opponents are hitting only .149 against him. He recently represented the Mariners in the Futures Game, throwing a scoreless inning. He will start for Arkansas on Friday night.
Of note
The most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out now, featuring Seattle Sports 710 host Brock Huard, talking about this season's frustration, his conversation with Alex Rodriguez, Kyle Seager's decision to not attend the ceremony this weekend, and much more. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.
