Baseball America's MiLB award feels like a kiss of death for Mariners' Kade Anderson

Baseball is a game filled with many superstitions, including not talking about an active no-hitter or perfect game, and not stepping on the foul lines when running onto or off a field. However, what really plays on the emotional nature of teams and fans alike are curses. And as much as they seem irrational by nature, this won't stop a certain segment of the Mariners fanbase being concerned about Kade Anderson after winning a prestigious award.

On Monday, Baseball America announced Anderson as the 2026 winner of their MiLB Pitcher of the Year award. Geoff Pontes and J.J. Cooper admitted it was an easy decision to pick the southpaw, after what was described as "a season for the age." This isn't even hyperbole, as he led all minor league pitchers with a 1.06 ERA and 0.643 WHIP, while also striking out 135 hitters over 93.1 innings.

However, as impressive as this undoubtedly was by Anderson, some may be wondering if he's now being jinxed in some way. You may have heard of the Madden cover curse, but what about the Baseball America MiLB Pitcher of the Year curse? Just look at the list of winners since they started handing out the award in 2022:

A quartet which has yet to build on the promise that made each of them MiLB Pitcher of the Year

Oh boy! Certainly the list doesn't make for particularly encouraging reading.

Andrew Painter made his Major League debut for the Phillies this season and become a regular member of the rotation. However, he produced a disappointing 5.40 ERA and 1.413 WHIP over 25 appearances which included 23 starts, and has now become a "maybe" guy.

Robby Snelling meanwhile, is still trying to break through after being traded by the Padres to Miami the year after winning the award. He did finally make his Major League debut this year with the Marlins, but it was a rough one as he allowed five hits, four walks and three earned runs in 5.0 innings.

Quinn Matthews similarly made his Major League debut this season, with the Cardinals, and while he wasn't an outright disaster in nine starts, he has been unremarkable thus far. Finally we come to Jonah Tong, who's the only one of the quartet who made his Major League debut last season. However, while he showed improvement in his second year, it wasn't hard to beat what he did in his disastrous rookie campaign. The reality is the Mets don't know what to do with him moving forward.

Some Mariners fans might believe in curses, but what about Kade Anderson?

In fairness, what sets Anderson apart from Painter, Snelling, Matthews and Tong is that he was so much better this season compared to what they did when they won the award. And this is reinforced by the fact he made his Major League debut in the same campaign as three of them, despite only being drafted last year. In fairness though, he was also selected third overall, with Painter next-best at 13th in 2021.

The point is that as much as Anderson easily outperformed the quartet when comparing the seasons they each won the award, that's the way it should have been. The bar is so much higher for him, and by extension he is already providing strong hints that he can keep it going in the majors.

Arguably the prime indication of this is what Anderson did in just his sixth big league start, versus the Rockies. He went a career-best 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed only three hits and no walks, while also striking out seven. However, what really made his performance impressive is that he managed it in the high altitude of Colorado, against a team which at the time ranked fourth in batting average and fifth in OPS. (They finished the regular season with the same rankings.)

Of course, we appreciate that even all these positives won't be enough to convince some people otherwise, about the perceived curse of winning Baseball America 's MiLB Pitcher of the Year award. Perhaps Anderson needs to consider a superstition of some kind to guard against the curse? Although we would probably suggest against eating fried chicken before every game like Wade Boggs, or wearing a gold thong like Jason Giambi.

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