Kade Anderson will make his major league debut for the Mariners on Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
The Seattle Mariners are coming off a pair of poor starting pitching performances in its series loss against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Mariners will be returning home for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, beginning at 7:10 p.m. PT on Friday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, and they'll get a boost to their starting rotation in the form of the top pitching prospect within the organization.
Per a report on "X" from ESPN's MLB insider Jeff Passan, the Mariners will be calling up left-handed starting pitcher and the fifth-ranked prospect in baseball (per MLB Pipeline) Kade Anderson, who will make his major league debut in a start against the Cubs in game two of the three-game series on Saturday.
Anderson was selected third overall in the 2025 MLB Draft out of LSU and has quickly established himself as arguably the best pitcher, regardless of experience or level, in the minor leagues.
In his first minor league season, the southpaw has posted a 1.06 ERA and has struck out 135 batters in 93.1 innings pitched across 18 starts. With the exception of pitchers in the Dominican Summer League, Anderson's ERA ranks first in the minor leagues, his strikeouts are tied for fifth, his walks issued (13) are tied for seventh-least in the minors and his earned runs allowed (11) are also tied for seventh-least. He was named to the MLB All-Star Futures Game in July.
Anderson's strikeout rate (40.5%), walk rate (3.9%) and whiff rate (37.6%) all rank in the 98th percentile of the minor leagues or better.
Anderson was the No. 1 player on Seattle's board in the 2025 MLB Draft and the team had high expectations for him, even extending him a non-roster invite to spring training this year.
Anderson has managed to exceed even the most optimistic outlooks most analysts had for him, and has followed the footsteps of previous notable pitching prospects such as Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Trey Yesavage (Toronto Blue Jays) as hurlers to make their major league debut a year after they were drafted.
Following the Mariners' 7-5 loss against the Brewers on Thursday, Seattle is three games out of the final wild card spot in the American League and 4.5 games out of first place in the American League West.
With Anderson now in the fold, the hope is that Seattle's rotation will be able to maximize its performance as it looks to make one last final push to make the postseason.
