Mariners Promote Top Prospect Kade Anderson to MLB
The Seattle Mariners promote their top prospect, Kade Anderson, amid possible minor league changes and a looming lockout. Anderson has looked dominant.
Video Transcript
But I do have some breaking news here, Craig, 'cause it appears- Okay somebody else is, making a decision here in Major League Baseball, and it looks like the Seattle Mariners have decided that they are gonna bring up the guy you've been talking about for over a month now.
And you're telling me this kid is the real deal.
We're talking about Cade Anderson, the left-hander, who- Yeah I believe was what?
The top-rated minor league pitcher, in baseball?
Yep.
Yep.
Number one prospect in all of baseball.
So, look, desperation, kind of calls for this if you're Seattle, and- Right it, it does make some sense.
September call-ups, Joe, are not what they used to be now.
It doesn't matter, you're still accruing service time.
They got rid of that rule, so if you come up, the, the clock starts.
It doesn't matter.
Remember back in the day, guys would come up in September.
Yep.
Teams would have 50 guys sitting in the dugout.
You can't do that anymore.
So I suppose it's a la- it, it really sucks for him because it's kind of like a last gasp, like, "Come be the savior.
Come be- Yep the hero for us."
I don't, I think we discussed this the other day.
What makes this interesting is, I don't know, Joe, I'm sure you've been paying attention, but i- if you've noticed, like Baez came up for the Cardinals, and like Anderson has now come up for Seattle.
But isn't it kind of strange that a lot of prospects have not been called up over the last month or so?
And I don't think a lot will in the next month.
Yep.
Because as, as I've discussed, and, and I'll, and I'll mention again for people who weren't watching, is that this looming collective bargaining agreement, th- there is no collective bargaining agreement over minor league baseball.
So now- with Cade Anderson being called up, Cade Anderson now cannot report to the Mariners minor league facility, in the off season, or even go to spring training with the triple A team, because now he's- part of the 40-man roster.
So that's why you're not seeing a ton of young guys called up, Joe, because when push comes to sh- and Max Clark got called up too for Detroit, I should mention that.
Yes.
But when push comes to shove, if there's a, a team that's 50/50 on a prospect, maybe that guy gets, the kid gets called up in September just to say, "Hey, let's give him his cup of coffee and see how he does, and then we'll see you back at spring training," that's not gonna happen this season because of the looming lockout.
The better move for some of these clubs is to say, "You know what?
We don't know if we're in it or not.
Let's just keep him in the minors."
And then- if there's a lockout, guess where that kid starts off?
He plays triple A.
He could play an entire minor league season, Joe, next se- like it's great.
Like you just- Yep let him play the whole year, and then be ready to go in 2028, or hopefully when the season begins in baseball, hopefully right on opening day at the end of March and April.
But that's why you're not seeing a lot of this, but I don't think this necessarily applies to a guy like Cade Anderson.
To me, Joe, this smells of just mad desperation for the Mariners.
Desperation.
Like they're, they ha- they are just throwing it all out there to say, "Hey, let's see if this kid can inject some life, into this team."
The question, Joe, that you probably would ask, and I would too, why now?
Why not last week?
I agree.
Why not the week before?
Why not July?
Yep.
The kid has just dominated the entire season.
He had nothing to prove a month ago.
Why now?
Yep.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Cade Anderson comes up.
That's it.
Yep.
I, I listened.
Is he the real deal?
Because i- it's, I've heard it from a number of people that this guy is, he's the next, I, I don't wanna say Paul Skenes or, but h- he's a big lefty here that everyone seems to think is, is a franchise game changer.
Is that what you're hearing as well?
He could, yeah, yeah.
Look, he's, he's the number one prospect in all of baseball, so he should be that.
For a reason.
I, I, I, I cannot say that he's gonna come up like Skenes did.
No, I can't do that, because that's, th- that, y- there've been a handful of guys that we've seen in the last 10, 20 years that have come up, done it, and gone on- Right to win a World Series, like a Strasburg and Skenes.
It's like a short list.
So I, I'm not gonna throw that on, Cade Anderson right out of the box, because Skenes was better.
Well, it was, stats aside, Skenes was a more highly touted guy than Cade Anderson was, with Cade Anderson up right now.
I mean, Skenes, Joe, I mean, y- if you Remember Paul Skenes pitching at LSU, throwing 100s?
Yes.
And, and, and, and by the way- hitting home runs, Paul Skenes, in college too.
He was a catcher also.
He, I mean, uh- Yep Skenes was, is the athlete among athletes.
So I, I, I, I don't know that Cade Anderson is this guy, but he is universally the number one prospect right now in baseball.
If Skenes was still a prospect, I probably would have Skenes ahead of him.
Crazy, the numbers.
1.06 ERA, 93 in a third.
Look at the strikeouts.
A hun- 135 strikeouts and 93 in a third.
Insane.
It's- Insane wow.
Yep.
And only 13 walks, and he's only given up 47 hits.
I, this is impressive- Does he pitch against the A's?
To say the least here.
When does he pitch against the A's?
Yeah.
That's what I wanna know.
Yeah.
Exactly correct.
