Seattle Mariners Top Draft Pick Discusses His Pitch Mix and Hope For Growth
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SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners' 2025 MLB Draft class was described multiple times as a "best-case scenario" by team vice president of amateur scouting Scott Hunter. And it started with the No. 3 overall pick.
The Mariners used that selection to draft left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson out of Louisiana State (LSU), who was considered the No. 1 player available by many analysts and publications.
Anderson is one of the most polished arms in the 2025 draft class. There's been speculation that he could be with the major league roster as soon as next season. He posted a 3.19 ERA with an NCAA Division I-leading 180 strikeouts in 119 innings pitched across 19 starts. He helped lead LSU to an NCAA College World Series championship and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Anderson boasts a four-pitch mix including a four-seam fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. The improvement of his slider from 2024 to 2025 might have been the biggest factor to his success.
Anderson's slider was highlighted in a post on "X" by LSU director of pitching development Jamie Tutko (@JTut39).
In the post, Tutko mentioned the jump in velocity on the slider (79.5 mph to 85.4 mph), whiff rate increase (22%-32%), decrease in opposing OPS (.889-.603) and uptick usage rate (13%-29%).
2025 - 88 mph SL ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/zl57Y9gPJ2
— Jamie Tutko (@JTut39) July 21, 2025
"The first thing you think about with pitching is just commanding the strike zone," Anderson said in an introductory news conference Tuesday at T-Mobile Park. "Being able to throw four pitches for strikes is something that makes your life a lot easier as a pitcher — just dominating the strike zone, I think it all goes back to that. And just having that mentality of being the better guy."
Anderson has plus-grades on all four of his pitches, per his scouting report from MLB Pipeline. His curveball and slider had 55 grades while his fastball and changeup had 60 grades.
Hunter said the next step for Anderson will be to head down to the team's facility in Peoria, Ariz., to build nutrition and ramp-up plans for spring training in 2026.
Laying a foundation will be the main priority for Anderson and Seattle, but it's become almost-annual tradition for a Mariner starting pitcher to try out or tinker with new pitches. If Anderson is allowed leeway to try something new, there's one pitch from the team's current big-league rotation that's caught his eye.
"Bryan Woo's fastball comes to mind a little bit," Anderson said. "Obviously he's an outlier. So I think that'd be cool. You pick up from everybody and pick up on things that people bring to the table and just kind of learning from other guys."
Anderson would have another dangerous tool in his arsenal if he is able to replicate Woo's heater. The 2025 All-Star has allowed an opposing batting average of .147 and generated a whiff rate of 30.7% with it, per Baseball Savant.
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