Mariners finally call on Kade Anderson to rescue them from their own futility

When the Seattle Mariners start a six-game homestand on Friday, they'll have a 60-68 record and sagging playoff chances in one hand and a whole bunch of hope in the other. It'll finally be time for T-Mobile Park to get a look at Kade Anderson.

The news comes courtesy of ESPN's Jeff Passan, who notes that the left-handed Anderson is slated to get the start on Saturday opposite the Chicago Cubs:

To hold back excitement in this moment would be next to pointless. Depending on who you ask, Anderson is either the best pitching prospect in Major League Baseball or the best prospect of any kind the league has to offer. That puts his hype level somewhere between Félix Hernández in the 2000s and Alex Rodriguez in the 1990s.

The numbers are right there for everyone to gawk at. Just 11 earned runs allowed in 93.1 innings is absurd, and five of those came in just one of Anderson's starts for the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. He's walked multiple batters in a game just four times. He has held right-handed batters to a .374 OPS, which is not a misprint.

There's also somehow more to the 22-year-old than just his numbers. They just don't make pitching prospects with four plus pitches and plus command. They also don't make 'em much more competitive than this. Picture a man born to be a pitcher and committed to that exact purpose in life, and you've got yourself a Kade Anderson.

The Mariners need whatever spark Kade Anderson can give their starting rotation

The story of why the Mariners are eight games under .500 mostly traces back to an offense that has been among the worst in the league. And because of that, the margin for error for the pitching staff on any given day is beyond razor-thin.

Increasingly, though, the pitching just hasn't been doing its part. Even non-Leo Rivas relievers have been having a brutal time since the All-Star break, and you'd swear the rotation was deliberately trying to buck its reputation as the best group of homegrown starters a franchise could ask for. Even before George Kirby's latest egg on Thursday, Mariners starters ranked 23rd in ERA since the break.

You can make the case that Anderson is a preferable option right now not just to Kirby, but to Bryce Miller and even to Bryan Woo. That just leaves Logan Gilbert and Emerson Hancock as the "safe" options, and only one of them (Gilbert, clearly) is remotely worthy of discussion as a true No. 1.

That has been the title that Anderson has been coming for ever since the Mariners drafted him at No. 3 overall last July. Once he throws that first big league pitch on Saturday, the only question left is how fast he can get there.

The sooner he does, the longer the Mariners may stay alive in this year's playoff race.

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