On Thursday, following a loss against the Milwaukee Brewers, it was reported that the Seattle Mariners will be calling up baseball's No. 5 prospect (per MLB Pipeline) this weekend.

Left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson is set to make his debut on Saturday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs at T-Mobile Park.

For Seattle, it's the second high profile debut of the season, as top infield prospect Colt Emerson made his debut back in May. Anderson, the No. 3 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft has ascended to the top pitching prospect in baseball on the back of his incredible season at Double-A Arkansas.

The left-hander is 10-1 with a microscopic 1.06 ERA in 93.1 innings. He's struck out 135 batters. He represented the Mariners at both the MLB Spring Breakout Game and the MLB Futures Game. There is nothing left for him to prove at Double-A, so he'll come to Seattle and try to help rescue a Mariners season that has gone sideways.

The M's enter play on Friday at 60-68 and four games back of the Houston Astros in the American League West.

While Anderson is certainly good, and capable of doing good things in his debut, the Mariners are not giving him a soft landing. The Cubs have the fourth-best record in the National League and are only five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers team that the Mariners just saw for three games.

We talked more about this on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast:

"This is an extremely difficult matchup for a Kade Anderson in the start. The Cubs are 15 games over .500. They have the fourth-best record in the National League. They have scored 656 runs. And you know what that is? That is good enough for the most in baseball. They have the second-highest batting average against left-handers. They have the best slugging percentage in baseball against left-handers. They have a lineup full of righties that rake. Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman. It goes on.

And, oh, by the way, Pete Crow-Armstrong is a possible MVP, certainly an MVP candidate, and he might beat out Shohei Ohtani for the MVP. And even though he hits left-handed, he is still a guy to be very, very fearful of.

Kade Anderson, I mentioned the confidence. I mentioned the mindset. They're going to need every bit of that confidence and mindset against this lineup. Again, the Cubs have the best slugging percentage in baseball against left-handed pitching, and the second-highest batting average. They are not going to be easy for the Mariners to beat. They are not going to be easy for Kade Anderson to beat."

The Mariners and Cubs will begin the series on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. PT. Anderson's debut will come on Saturday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. PT.

For what it's worth, Anderson has stepped up in big moments before. He helped lead LSU to the College World Series title in 2025.

The most recent edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out, talking about Kade Anderson's call-up and featuring a conversation with Mariners infielder Ryan Bliss. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.