The Mariners prospects lost their Spring Breakout game today to the top-ranked farm, the Brewers prospects, 7-3. Offensively, the Mariners prospects did rack up some hits, but squandered run-scoring opportunities and failed to come through with clutch RBIs, outside of Lazaro Montes, who went 3-for-3 and drove in two of the Mariners’ three runs. Montes also stole a base and handled right field well, continuing to show that he’s more than just a power hitter.
The bigger issue was on the pitching side; Mariners pitching prospects struck out 10, but also walked seven, with four of those walks belonging to the normally stingy Kade Anderson, who had a tough outing. Anderson was slated to pitch three innings but couldn’t clear the third after struggling through his first two. He seemed to not have his fastball command, falling behind in counts and leaving pitches on the plate that got damaged: in his first inning of work, he allowed the tying run on back-to-back hard hits, one on a hanging slider and one on the changeup. Anderson navigated out of trouble in that inning, striking out Jeferson Quero on a wicked curveball. He also avoided damage in the fifth despite issuing two walks, one a four-pitch walk to Brock Wilken where Anderson just could not land his fastball, missing in three times.
The trouble persisted in the sixth, which Anderson opened with a five-pitch walk to Jett Williams, again failing to locate his fastball – this time missing up – and then lost a seven-pitch battle with Jesus Madé. Anderson tried to sneak a first-pitch slider past the next hitter, Luis Peña, but Peña pounced on it for a three-run home run that cracked the game open.
Things continued to devolve, with new shortstop Nick Becker committing a throwing error on what should have been the first out of the inning with a throw that would significantly raise Perry Hill’s blood pressure, and Charlie Beilenson, put in for Anderson after he failed to record an out in the sixth, didn’t fare much better, giving up a pair of singles and a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-2 Milwaukee. Casey Hintz, a 2025 draft pick out of Arizona and an under-the-radar name to know in this system, eventually came in to clean up the mess.
Mason Peters, a favorite of LL prospect guru Max, gave up the other two runs in this game, also issuing two walks, but also recorded two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of work. At this point it’s probably worth mentioning that with triple-digit heat on the field, it’s very possible we weren’t seeing the best representation of these pitchers’ arsenals or command, although it didn’t seem to affect Milwaukee’s pitchers, who issued just three walks, beating the Mariners at their own dominate-the-zone game.
The pitching story of this game for the Mariners, though, is Ryan Sloan’s performance to open the game: nine up, nine down, three strikeouts, and nothing squared up on him. Sloan got the starting nod and utterly stifled the powerful Brewers prospects the first time through the lineup, showcasing his riding fastball at 97-98 up in the zone, his heavy sinker, his swing-and-miss slider, and the cutter he can use for weak contact outs. He didn’t even throw his changeup, leaving that pitch for hitters to sweat in their nightmares. If we want to be a little picky about Sloan, we could say at times he overthrew his pitches, but he was intentional even in that, riding it up out of the zone to try to tempt hitters (it did not). Otherwise, though, it was about as close to a star-making performance as you’ll see in these games; expect the Ryan Sloan hype train to gather speed after this outing.
Outside of Montes, the other most impressive offensive performance belongs to Yorger Bautista, “La Bestia.” Bautista is a stockily-built player but showed off some speed on a triple, legging it out against a strong defensive centerfielder in Luis Lara; he was cut down at home trying to score on a fielder’s choice out. In the ninth, La Bestia decided to take matters into his own hands, launching this homer that had the whole broadcast crew oohing and aahing:
Also of note: Felnin Celesten put on a clinic at shortstop, cutting down the speedy Brewers prospects who dared to put the ball on the ground on the left side of the infield. His footwork was sure and speedy, his mechanics clean, and his throws strong and on-target. Celesten’s line in the box score doesn’t look impressive, but his at-bats were impressive, as he battled in the box—just missing a long home run at once point—and worked a walk.
