Kade Anderson's rapid Mariners rise is making a mockery of Nationals and Angels

What Kade Anderson is doing in his first professional season is basically living up to the Seattle Mariners' wildest dreams. And lest anyone forget, that he fell past the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels in last year's draft was a wild dream in its own right.

There wasn't a consensus No. 1 pick heading into the 2025 MLB Draft, but everyone seemed to come around to Anderson as the right guy for the Nationals. Keith Law of The Athletic referred to LSU's ace lefty as the "down-the-middle-pick," which fit on account of his reputation as an advanced college pitcher with room to get better.

If Anderson didn't go No. 1 to the Nationals, he was sure to go No. 2 to the Angels. The notion of him lasting to the Mariners at No. 3 felt like an impossibility, which was a darn shame considering how badly they supposedly wanted him.

We all know what happened next. The Angels took prep shortstop Eli Willits, the Angels took college righty Tyler Bremner, and the Mariners got their guy.

Kade Anderson looks every bit like he should have been the No. 1 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft

Cut to now, and the stats for Anderson's first six starts for Double-A Arkansas read like the stuff of video games. In 30.0 innings, he's allowed just two runs on 15 hits and five walks. He's struck out 47 of the 106 batters he's faced, with right-handed batters accounting for 36 of those.

The last thing the Mariners need right now is another starting pitcher, but that never stays the case for long in baseball. Whether it's because a spot opens up or because he's simply a can't-miss upgrade, the odds look good that Anderson can make like Paul Skenes, Chase Burns and Trey Yesavage and get to The Show a year after being drafted.

For now, he's risen to the No. 9 spot in Baseball America's top 100. He's the highest-ranking member of the entire 2025 draft class, with both Willits (No. 24) and Bremner (No. 42) ranking well below him.

To be clear, this is not to imply that either is in danger of going bust. It would be too soon for such proclamations even if neither was performing, and both are. Willits has an .808 OPS in 46 total games at the Single-A level, while Bremner has a 1.50 ERA in five outings at the High-A level — like Anderson, he also sat out the rest of the 2025 MiLB season after the draft.

Yet with their offense proving to be a genuine surprise amid a 19-22 start, the Nationals are a competent pitching staff away from being a proper playoff contender. What they actually have is a staff that co-leads MLB in both runs and home runs allowed. Their best pitching prospect is Travis Sykora, who has a 2028 ETA after major elbow surgery last year.

The Angels, meanwhile, are 16-25 in large part because José Soriano has been their only consistent starting pitcher. Bremner might be their latest college rush job, but it is (or should be) a reach. He's a level below Anderson and building up his workload is a point of emphasis.

As time will be the ultimate arbiter of who truly won the top of the 2025 MLB Draft, to declare the Mariners the winner now would be asking for trouble. Which, to be honest, is another way of saying that some of us still remember Danny Hultzen.

Even so, the Mariners might as well be sending out thank you cards to the Nationals and Angels. The two of them leaving Anderson there for the taking at No. 3 felt like a miracle even at the time, and the taste is only getting sweeter.

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