Prospect's massive leap in Baseball America's top 100 is a victory lap for Mariners

The Mariners rotation is already considered one of the best in the majors and seems to be only getting better, with Emerson Hancock finally tapping into his potential and Bryce Miller still to come back from injury. As if this isn't enough, Kade Anderson was the top pitcher in the 2025 draft class and don't look now, but here comes Ryan Sloan flying up the prospect ranking charts.

Anderson entered spring training as the higher-rated pitching prospect in the Mariners farm system and this has been reflected by MLB Pipeline ranking him 18th overall in the top 100, compared to 30th for Sloan. However, Baseball America sees things slightly differently when it comes to comparing the duo.

Ryan Sloan is almost TOO good for even the Mariners

Baseball America has released their updated April list of MLB's top 100 prospects (subscription required) and right there at No. 22 is Sloan, one spot ahead of Anderson. For some context, the process includes obtaining industry feedback from league scouts, coaches, analysts and front office officials, to help rank each prospect's long-term MLB impact.

This is one heck of a jump by Sloan, who last month was ranked 60th by Baseball America (Anderson was 24th) and tells you just how much he progressed during spring. We wrote a lot about the righty during the winter and how he seems almost TOO good, yet here he is living up to the expectations and it's good to know the experts feel the same way.

To be fair, media experts closer to Seattle have been onto Sloan for quite a while now, including Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, who has predicted he will be baseball's No. 1 pitching prospect a year from now. And you've even got people within the Mariners organization such as general manager Justin Hollander saying it wouldn't be out of the question if he actually pitches in the majors this year.

Similar physical traits to a couple of Cy Young winners

To be fair to Hollander, he did stress this wasn't a definitive proclamation for a pitcher who (currently) has an ETA in the majors of 2028, but it speaks to how far and how quickly Sloan has come since being taken in the second round of the 2024 draft. Although this was actually a steal as he was viewed by some as worthy of being a mid-first round pick, with teams only weary of taking him so soon due to him coming out of high school.

In any event, the reluctance of other teams to take a first-round gamble on Sloan helped the Mariners and they are reaping the benefits, with him blowing everyone away with what he showed during spring. He only needed 12 pitches to get through one inning in his Cactus League debut and then dominated the Brewers' No. 1 rated farm system in the M's Spring Breakout game, going nine up, nine down in three innings.

Sloan's baby face contrasts starkly with his physical build — especially those tree trunks for legs — and he's been getting compared to the likes of Gerrit Cole and Roger Clemens. (He's also been called "Baby Dumper", but that's another story.) This is not to claim the 20-year-old will be as good as either of them, but he's at least on a promising trajectory and if he achieves even half of what Cole has (the lesser accomplished of the duo), then he's going to enjoy a long and prosperous Major League career.