Sloan stuns Brewers' Spring Breakout squad with dominant 3-K outing
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PEORIA, Ariz. -- Giddyup, Ryan Sloan.
The Mariners’ overpowering right-hander lived up to his lofty prospect pedigree when overwhelming a lineup featuring MLB Pipeline’s No. 1-ranked farm system on Friday afternoon at MLB Spring Breakout.
His final line: Nine up, nine down, 39 pitches, three strikeouts -- and no mercy.
“I kind of just went into it with the mindset of, 'I'm not going to let the environment dictate my process,’” Sloan said. “I did that my first Spring Training game and kind of stuck with that. I think it kind of keeps me in control, keeps me slowed down, keeps me with what I know works.”
In the Mariners’ 7-3 loss to Milwaukee’s prospects, Sloan was dominant from the get-go, registering his first K to leadoff man Jett Williams on a 96.5 mph sinker that darted to the bottom of the zone at the last second, generating an easy whiff in a full count.
In the second inning, Sloan came back with his other heater (the four-seamer) and climbed the ladder for a 97.5 mph foul-tip K at the top rail, getting Luis Lara to swing in an 0-2 count.
Then for a curtain call, Sloan broke out the slider for his final strikeout to his penultimate batter, Brock Wilken, also in a full count and landing it low-and-away but in the zone. And that last part is what the Mariners are extremely bullish on -- it’s not just the stuff, but the control that stands out, especially within an organization whose mantra is “dominate the zone.’”
“We're going to challenge him,” Mariners director of pitching strategy Trent Blank said recently. “He wants to be challenged, but we're going to challenge him to, I guess, take that execution a little step further -- not just control, but see if we can find some command. I think he's going to exceed expectations, because that's what he's done for us every single day.”
The Brewers’ lineup on Friday featured four prospects within Pipeline’s Top 100 -- Jesús Made (No. 3), Luis Peña (No. 26), Williams (No. 51) and Cooper Pratt (No. 64), all of whom were within the lineup’s Nos. 1-4 spots. And of the six balls in play against him for his other outs, only one was hard-hit, a 95.9 mph groundout from Pratt.
Lots of whiffs and no hard-hits. That’ll play.
“A lot of it is confidence,” Sloan said. “I've put in a lot of work to allow me to be confident out here. My main goal was kind of just like, and I've been working on it a lot, making it where the only thoughts are me versus the batter.
“I know I have good stuff, and I want the hitter to feel that. They also know that.”
All of this is to say that, while Sloan was going up against Minor Leaguers and not at the elite echelon he’ll eventually face in The Show, they are touted as among the best and brightest of tomorrow.
Sloan made Friday’s start as a nod to his strong spring, which was also his first big league camp -- and with the knowledge that fellow pitching prospect Kade Anderson, who piggybacked him, made more Cactus League starts.
Sloan is the Mariners’ No. 3 prospect and Pipeline’s No. 33 overall -- yet by this time next year, he might pace the rankings among pitchers across all of Minor League Baseball.
No, that’s not a sentiment regarding his showing on Friday, but rather about how much upside he has at just 20 years old and fewer than two years removed from being in chemistry and social studies classes.
“Sloan was a high school kid but obviously doesn't look like a high school kid,” Blank said recently. “Lots of strikes, and it's not just with the heaters. It's strikes with the secondaries as well.”
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The Mariners haven’t announced which Minors affiliate that Sloan will report to for the regular season, but Double-A Arkansas might not be out of the question. That’s typically where the club sends its best pitching prospects, though a return to High-A Everett, where Sloan made his final three starts of 2025, could also be on the table. Between Everett and Single-A Modesto last year, Sloan had a 3.73 ERA with 90 strikeouts and 15 walks over 82 innings.
A climb even higher is not a topic that’s on the table at this stage, at least compared to Anderson, who is further along in his development, having racked up 119 innings last year at LSU.
But it’s hard not to dream on a scenario where Sloan is recording consequential outs in extremely important games down the stretch, if all the stars align from a standpoint of workload, development and team need.