It was going to take quite a performance for Seattle Mariners pitching prospect Kade Anderson to top his pro debut, but he did exactly that in his second start with Double-A Arkansas.
After pitching four scoreless innings in his first start last week, Anderson tossed five no-hit innings of scoreless ball on his way to his first professional win Friday night against the Wichita Wind Surge, an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The left-hander racked up 11 strikeouts, which included fanning all but one batter in Wichita’s lineup at least once, and allowed two walks.
Anderson needed just 70 pitches to get through his five no-hit innings, with 48 of those going for strikes.
You can see the highlights from Anderson’s outing in this social media post from Mariners Minors.
Right-hander Charlie Beilenson replaced Anderson on the mound in the sixth inning with Travelers leading 3-0. The Travelers went on to win 5-0.
The 21-year-old Anderson, who was the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s draft, has pitched nine shutout innings with 17 strikeouts and just five hits and three walks allowed in his first two starts as a pro.
Anderson is the Mariners’ No. 2 prospect and No. 18 in all of baseball, per MLB Pipeline. Baseball America ranks the left-hander as Seattle’s No. 3 prospect and No. 22 in baseball.
After drafting him last year, the organization elected to shut down Anderson due to a heavy innings workload at LSU, where he pitched 119 innings while helping lead the Tigers to a national title.
Anderson appeared in three Cactus League games for the M’s this spring, allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out nine over seven innings.
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