When Seattle Mariners top prospect Kade Anderson was called up in August, he had a 1.06 ERA at Double-A Arkansas. He was having the greatest minor league season we've ever seen.

And because of that, M's fans were expecting him to come up and look like a Cy Young contender right away. And that hasn't been the case.

After giving up five earned runs in 4.1 innings in a 6-4 loss against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, Anderson is now 1-2 with a 5.33 ERA in his first five starts. He's given up 28 hits in those 25.1 innings, and he's surrendered four home runs.

One look at my "X" feed (@RefuseToLosePod), shows Mariners fans turning on him already. Some think that the fans were sold a lie about how good Anderson was, others think that his velocity is too much of a concern, and others think the Mariners' player development machine is failing as a whole.

I try not to pay much attention to those comments. People are mad at the Mariners for their failures this season, and they are looking for outlets to direct it.

For starters, Anderson was never billed as the next Tarik Skubal: He was billed as a reliable big leaguer who could help a rotation quickly. He always lacked premium, premium upside, but that was going to be balanced out by a high floor and a quick path to the big leagues. Furthermore, his velocity is not a massive concern, as told to us by ESPN's Buster Olney last week, and this same player development group turned Andres Munoz, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryan Woo into All-Stars.

Anderson is in his first professional season. He was pitching in college just 14 months ago. He will get better.

I'm going to say the same thing about Anderson today that I said a few weeks ago. He's learning valuable lessons right now. It's good to challenge hitters and to be fearless, but you also have to have a self-awareness about who you are. Anderson's velocity can absolutely work, but he has to be better about living on the corners and the edges, particularly with two strikes.

Just take Monday's pitch sequence to Zack Neto as a perfect example. Anderson gets ahead 0-1 on a painted curveball, then gets Neto to go out of the zone on 0-1, and then leaves a fastball right down the middle. It gets hit for a triple, and a run.

When Anderson has been in trouble, that's been a consistent issue. Not finishing hitters off and not getting them to expand the zone on their own. Again, he will learn how his stuff works and he will be better for it. If Jamie Moyer and Marco Gonzales can have great Mariners tenures, then Anderson can too.

The latest episode of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below. You can always subscribe on YouTube as well.