Despite a gut-wrenching Game 7 loss in the American League Championship Series, the future looks bright for the Seattle Mariners.
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Franchise cornerstones Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez are locked into long-term deals. The club’s talented starting rotation is still young, with four of their five starters age 28 or younger. And the M’s boast one of the best farm systems in baseball, with a slew of highly touted prospects appearing in various top-100 rankings.
But that being said, pitching health is perhaps the biggest variable in baseball. And the Mariners found that out the hard way this season.
After their top five starting pitchers combined to make 149 starts in 2024, that number dipped to 128 this year, as Bryce Miller, George Kirby and Logan Gilbert spent time in the injured list and Bryan Woo was sidelined toward the end of September and into October.
As a result, Seattle’s starting rotation went from posting an MLB-best 3.38 ERA in 2024 to ranking 13th this season at 3.97.
That’s why Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman thinks the Mariners’ starting rotation – which has been the foundation of this team in recent years – could be at least somewhat of a question mark moving forward.
“Julio and Cal is an incredible place to start,” Shusterman told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Wednesday. “… Your floor there from an offensive standpoint is still going to be pretty high just with those two alone. That’s why I still go back to the pitching. … The pitching is much harder to project because of the injury status of (nearly) all of them.
“And you could even lump (Luis) Castillo in. He’s the one (starter) who hasn’t been hurt, but we know he’s been someone that has been trending in the wrong direction. Still an effective starter, but not necessarily someone you’re as excited to be fronting your rotation.”
Yet even so, Shusterman pointed to some promising arms in the Mariners’ farm system. While most of their top prospects are position players, they have a trio of highly touted pitchers in 2025 first-round draft pick Kade Anderson, 2024 first-round pick Jurrangelo Cijntje and 2024 second-rounder Ryan Sloan.
Of those three, Anderson is widely expected to reach the majors first. The 21-year-old left-hander has yet to throw a pitch at the professional level, but he’s expected to move quickly through the minors after starring for LSU’s national championship team this past summer.
“Jurrangelo and Kade Anderson, those guys are coming,” Shusterman said. “Like, I don’t think Kade Anderson is gonna take very long. It wouldn’t be shocking if he pitches his way (up through the minors) and then in August next year he’s one of your six or seven best starters.”
Listen to the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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