Unlike other sports, in the MLB Draft, you don’t draft for need. But there’s one area where the Mariners, and their fans, are deeply needy: championships.
The Mariners didn’t take LSU’s Kade Anderson third overall just because he’s a College World Series Champion. They took him because he is both an outstanding person and an outstanding pitcher, a projected first-overall pick pre-draft. That happens to go hand in hand with his accomplishments: Most Outstanding Player of the CWS; Baseball America’s
National Pitcher of the Year; First Team All-American; First Team All-SEC; national leader in strikeouts; Honor Roll; and yes, College World Series Champion.
That spotlight-bright focus hasn’t been too much for Anderson, says Scott Hunter, Mariners Scouting director, and might even give him a leg up in adjusting quickly to the big leagues.
“He’s been the face of LSU,” said Hunter. “He’s on every billboard in Louisiana right now. To be able to handle the College World Series in that environment, not only with the media but also in the spotlight as maybe the best pitcher in the draft, and how he handled that is a game changer.”
But Anderson isn’t leaving his championship mindset back in Baton Rouge. In Seattle on Tuesday to officially sign his contract with the Mariners, Anderson met with the media in person for the first time after an initial Zoom call on draft night.
For Anderson, his commitment to winning is in every pitch he throws. Slender at present, Anderson eschewed chasing velocity in college, focusing instead on refining his four-pitch mix, especially a slider that was a difference-maker this past season in his ability to miss bats. But Anderson isn’t chasing strikeouts, either, rather treating them as a byproduct of his domination of the zone.
“The first thing you think about in pitching is just creating the strike zone. And being able to throw four pitches for strikes is something that makes your life a lot easier as a pitcher. Just dominating the strike zone, I think it all goes back to that. Just having that mentality of being the better guy in the zone.”
The Mariners will slow-play Anderson for the remainder of this year after his heavy workload in the CWS, and he’ll focus on adopting a pro training regimen and adding strength at the complex in Peoria. While it will be difficult for the uber-competitive Anderson to put down the baseball for the next several months, Anderson says he trusts in the Mariners’ development plan for him, saying it reminds him of what pitching coach Nate Yeskie of LSU (formerly of OSU) preached.
“Obviously, I’m a competitor. I want to pitch as much as I can, but I think the Mariners already have a plan for me. And to get in the weight room and get stronger, get bigger, is something that I think is going to be valuable to my success in my career.”
“There have been so many guys that are homegrown players coming out of Seattle that are now All-Stars like Bryan Woo, guys like that. You already know what the Mariners are all about, just in player development, but to see the success it obviously helps your confidence as well. I believed in the Mariners as soon as they picked me, honestly.”
The championship mindset is something Anderson will share with his potential future batterymate, the Mariners’ supplemental round choice, North Carolina catcher Luke Stevenson. UNC made it to the super-regionals this year before being knocked out by Arizona (a team featuring 2025 Mariners draft pick Casey Hintz, who served as setup man in the elimination game), but advanced to the CWS after winning the ACC championship. Stevenson, who was a team leader despite being just a sophomore at UNC, shares Anderson’s single-minded devotion to winning.
“Win a World Series,” Stevenson said over a draft night Zoom call when asked about his goals in professional baseball. “That’s something that I need. I will lose sleep over it. It is something that I need, is to win a World Series. I’m a winner and I want to win as many games as I can. That’s what I want.”
Anderson said he hasn’t had a chance to connect in-person with Stevenson yet, “but I was the first person to follow him on Instagram.” Anderson said he was watching the draft closely to see if the Mariners would draft him a batterymate, much like they did in 2018 with Logan Gilbert and Cal Raleigh. “My eyes were glued to the screen.”
And while Anderson and Stevenson haven’t had a chance to meet yet, Anderson said he had heard from several new organization-mates, including those currently with the big-league team. Logan Gilbert texted him the night of the draft with congratulations, and spent time chatting with Anderson during his visit, offering specific, thoughtful advice when Anderson solicited some about how to manage the start of his professional career.
And he got another text too, right before leaving for Seattle.
“I was in the pool the other day and Cal Raleigh reached out, which right now is probably the coolest guy in the league to get a text from.”
For his part, Raleigh said he was impressed by Anderson’s presence in the clubhouse, and also charmed by the fact that Anderson was toting his own wide-eyed younger brother around with him on his visit.
“I thought it was really cool that he’s got a younger brother like me,” said Cal. “It was weird seeing it from my angle because usually I’m the one with the little brother at the hip, but...it was cool.”
When Raleigh signed his contract extension, one of the things he highlighted in his press conference was how the Mariners’ young core and the waves of prospects poised to make their big-league ascent was part of his decision-making process in making a long-term commitment to the team. Anderson is part of that wave that could crest as soon as next year, and though the two don’t know each other well yet, they share the same goal.
“I came here to win,” said Anderson. “They picked a winner, honestly. When I was at LSU, we won, and that was the coolest moment of my life, but now I have this opportunity to play for the Mariners. Obviously, everyone’s goal is to win. It’s a lot easier said than done. I think that’s one thing that I can really bring to the table, that I’ve experienced those kinds of things. I think it starts with the people that are in the locker room, I really believe that.”
“We talk about it all the time,” said Scott Hunter. “We want winning players who want to win here in Seattle. And to get a player that has done it, not only in the SEC, but has won a College World Series, and values winning more than his own progression through a system, that’s culture change in our mind. The more players we can bring into a system where that’s the first thing that matters, that’s hopefully what will change our luck here in regards to playoff runs and hopefully World Series.”
“There are a lot of fans that are really dedicated to the Mariners,” said Anderson. “That’s something I’ve learned about over the past couple of days. I’m super excited to eventually bring home a World Series to this city.”
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