Can Kade Anderson Save the Mariners’ Season?

Kade Anderson’s Absurd Season

Anderson has allowed 11 runs in Double-A. He has made 18 starts and averaged more than five innings per outing. Feel free to blink your eyes, pinch your arm, or check the temperature of your forehead because that is a real statistic.

It’s a shock that Anderson was not promoted to Triple-A earlier in the season, but the Mariners are compensating for that lost time with a skipped level. Among 42 qualified Double-A pitchers, Anderson’s 1.06 ERA is less than a third of second place: Atlanta’s Brett Sears and his 3.33 mark.

There are also injury and usage concerns. In this day of pitching, there are pitch limits and innings limits, especially for rookies. However, if there is any rookie a team can rely on to throw a massive number of innings, it’s undoubtedly Anderson. In his final college season at LSU, he led the nation with 119.0 innings pitched, 11 more than second-place Anthony Eyanson.

Could there be an innings limit on Anderson? Absolutely, and in fact, there likely is. Currently, Anderson sits at 93.1 innings and would be expected to make seven more starts should he remain in a five-man rotation for the rest of the season.

Historical Precedent of Late-Season Double-A Pitcher Call-Ups

Especially in the pre-draft era, it was not unusual to see a player or two skip the minor leagues each year. Some of the famous ones include Sandy Koufax and Catfish Hunter. This came around again in 2020, when the minor league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When it comes to saving a season or even being a major contributor to a playoff run, how often is the savior still in Double-A on August 19? Not often, but if Kade Anderson joins the Mariners’ rotation, he would not be a total unicorn.

As recently as last year, Trey Yesavage made a similar rise to become a playoff hero in Toronto, while Payton Tolle struggled on a similar fast track. Both of these players, however, made at least three starts in Triple-A before their respective MLB debuts.

The more common route is for a starting pitching prospect to become a reliever in September. This happened to Garrett Crochet in 2020, the year he was drafted, and Ben Joyce of the Angels in 2023. But rarely has a player skipped Triple-A altogether and become a starter down the stretch.

Here’s a handful of players who paved a path that Anderson could walk.

Josh Beckett

Josh Beckett is perhaps the perfect prototypical example of what Anderson can be. Beckett was drafted second overall out of high school. Anderson was drafted third overall out of college.

In his age-21 season, Beckett dominated across 25 starts in High-A and Double-A before skipping Triple-A altogether for a shot with the Marlins in 2001. Anderson has posted even stronger numbers in 18 starts at Double-A, and suddenly, he has a shot to start with the Mariners.

At the time of Beckett’s debut on September 4, the then-Florida Marlins were 10 games under .500. While there is time for things to change before Saturday’s debut for Anderson, the Mariners are eight games under .500 at the time of writing.

As for Beckett’s performance? The Marlins finished 76-86 that season, but it was no fault of Beckett’s. He tossed 24 innings across four starts, allowing four earned runs and five unearned.

Triston McKenzie

McKenzie is perhaps the strangest example on this list. He was drafted out of high school in 2015, rose to Double-A by 2018, then missed the entire 2019 season with a slew of injuries. When 2020 rolled around, there was no minor league season, and Cleveland took a chance on the stringbean righty nicknamed Dr. Sticks.

Over eight appearances, six as a starter, in 2020, McKenzie posted a 3.24 ERA in 33.1 innings. Then, he struggled in the playoffs, allowing two runs in 1.2 innings against the Yankees, prematurely ending the Guardians’ playoff dreams. Making the quick jump does not always deliver immediate postseason success, but McKenzie was certainly a major reason why the Guardians qualified in the first place.

David Price

If Yesavage is the model for what Anderson can become as a playoff starter, Price is the model for a lockdown reliever.

Price was the No. 1 overall pick for the then-Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007. The dominant Vanderbilt southpaw quickly ascended through the minors in 2008, pitching six games in High-A, nine in Double-A, and just four in Triple-A. Suddenly, Price had one start and four long-relief appearances in September.

His postseason run, however, wasn’t filled with glory from the start. Price didn’t actually pitch in a postseason game until the ALCS against Boston. He had three relief appearances in that series and two more against Philly in the World Series. In total, Price allowed just one run through 5.2 innings, albeit with four walks that didn’t help fans’ heart rates on such a grand stage.

Price went back to Triple-A for another eight starts in 2009. However, within a few seasons of this initial call-up, Price was a Cy Young Award winner, taking home the honor in 2012.