Kade Anderson is done waiting. The Seattle Mariners are calling up the 22-year-old left-hander, the consensus No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball, to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs at T-Mobile Park, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Thursday.
He will be the first player selected in the 2025 MLB Draft to reach the big leagues.
Anderson was the third overall pick last June out of LSU, where he led the Tigers to a national championship and was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.
He signed for $8.8 million and dominated Double-A Arkansas in his first professional season, going 10-1 with a 1.06 ERA in 18 starts, striking out 135 and walking just 13 in 93⅓ innings. Thirteen walks in 93 innings.
The command is the part that makes scouts genuinely excited.
The Mariners need him now. At 60-68 they are three games back of the final AL Wild Card spot and have been one of the season's most disappointing teams after falling one win short of the World Series last October.
They traded Luis Castillo at the deadline and have been running out of rotation options. Anderson is the answer the organization hoped they would not need this early.
He could be the AL Rookie of the Year favorite next season. Right now he is just the answer to Saturday's start.