SEATTLE — Kade Anderson is coming.

The question isn’t if, but when — and how.

Because Anderson, who fell to Seattle with the No. 3 overall pick in the MLB draft last summer, is a battering ram demolishing Double-A doors. And if he continues on this trajectory, a rotation spot shouldn’t stop him from reaching Seattle.

The 21-year-old southpaw was college baseball’s best pitcher as a sophomore in 2025, when he went 12-1 with a 3.18 ERA and 180 strikeouts (most in the nation) in 19 starts for LSU. The first-team All-American guided the Tigers to a national title and was named the men's College World Series’ most outstanding player along the way.

He arrived in Peoria, Ariz., this spring with four plus pitches — a mid-90s fastball, a wipeout slider, a mid-80s changeup and a merciless curve. After catching Anderson’s first Cactus League start in February, Cal Raleigh remarked that “those are all real pitches you can throw on both sides of the plate. [He’s] polished. Very impressive. He can locate the ball. He can command it. He can throw offspeed in the zone for strikes.”

So it wasn’t entirely surprising when Anderson bypassed High-A Everett, starting his first professional season at Double-A Arkansas.

More surprising? The 6-foot-2, 179-pounder has leapt clear over any expected learning curve.

In five starts, Anderson is 2-0 with 38 strikeouts, 13 hits, four walks and one earned run (0.37 ERA) in 24 1/3 innings. He notched five no-hit innings in just his second start, stockpiling 11 strikeouts and just two walks against the Wichita Wind Surge. He bedeviled the Wind Surge again last week, surrendering four hits without a walk or an earned run (plus eight more strikeouts) in 5 2/3 efficient innings.

On Monday, the Mariners named Anderson their Minor League Pitcher of the Month.

The question is how many more months he’ll qualify.

“I’m going to be so interested to see how they handle Kade Anderson,” ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan said last week during an interview on 710 AM Seattle Sports’ “Brock and Salk. “It’s obvious at this point that he is done with Double-A. He’s either ready to be promoted or … frankly, I think Kade Anderson is big-league ready right now. I don’t think the Mariners are going to pull the trigger on that quite yet, but I do wonder how they are going to use him.”

Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Mariners fans, Seattle’s starting rotation doesn’t have room. The Mariners are nearing a sticky decision, as Bryce Miller’s rehab assignment wraps up soon. Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert are established starters, and Emerson Hancock (who struck out 14 Royals and allowed one run in seven innings Saturday) is cementing his spot with each passing start. The 33-year-old Luis Castillo has struggled mightily, with a 6.29 ERA and a -0.8 bWAR in seven uninspiring starts. But given his contract ($21.6 million in 2026), track record and clubhouse standing, the 10th-year veteran will likely receive an extended runway.

So what happens when Miller returns to the Mariners this month? Does Seattle embrace a six-man rotation, allowing their most trusted arms fewer total starts for the next five months? Do the Mariners begrudgingly return Hancock to Triple-A Tacoma, considering he has a minor-league option left? (This is an increasingly inconceivable option.) Do they shift Castillo to long relief, at least temporarily, something he has never done in 250 career games?

There is no easy answer.

And it isn’t Anderson.

There is a precedent for Mariners pitchers being promoted directly from Double-A to T-Mobile Park. Miller, Woo and Hancock all skipped Triple-A Tacoma and the hitter-happy Pacific Coast League before making their first MLB starts. If Seattle’s injury issues unexpectedly extend to more of its starters, Anderson sure looks ready to fill that role.

If not? The Mariners may need to get creative.

Consider how the Tampa Bay Rays used 23-year-old southpaw David Price in 2008. Price, the No. 1 pick in the previous draft out of Vanderbilt, was projected as a front-line starter but made an immediate impact in Tampa Bay’s bullpen. The rookie recorded a 1.93 ERA in five regular-season appearances and a 1.59 ERA in five more playoff games for a Rays team that reached the World Series. After excelling as a bulletproof band aid in the bullpen, he made 322 starts in 13 more MLB seasons.

I’m not saying Anderson is or will be Price. But a Mariners team with World Series aspirations must likewise maximize every ounce of its arsenal. (That could also apply to 20-year-old starter Ryan Sloan, if he finds his footing in Double-A.)

Plus, don’t expect Anderson to succumb under a September/October spotlight. In his final start at LSU, Game 1 of the 2025 College World Series, he struck out 10 and threw 130 pitches (!) in a complete-game, 1-0 win over Coastal Carolina. And when asked if he had butterflies before his first spring training start, the Louisianian coolly responded: “I think you’d be surprised. It’s just another game for me. When you have that mindset, it makes it a lot easier on yourself.”

Maybe Anderson slides into the rotation this summer for a struggling or injured starter. Maybe he helps stabilize a bullpen that’s already bruised and thinning for a relentless stretch run.

His debut does not appear to be imminent.

But it’s clear this battering ram can demolish bigger doors.

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