On Friday night, left-hander Kade Anderson, the Mariners' No. 2 prospect, struck out nine batters in his start for Double-A Arkansas.
Right-hander Ryan Sloan must have viewed that as a challenge to him.
The Mariners' No. 3 prospect and the No. 19 prospect in MLB registered nine strikeouts of his own over 5 1/3 innings Saturday as Arkansas took down San Antonio, 9-1, at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The 20-year-old picked up one K in each of the first three innings before he really got into gear. Sloan struck out three batters in the fourth, two more in the fifth and sat down the first batter he faced in the sixth. He also gave up a solo homer and a single in that frame before being relieved.
COMPLETE MARINERS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Although the whiffs are cool, Sloan's command while wiping out opposing hitters is even more impressive. He didn't issue a walk on Saturday and has walked just three batters in his past eight starts, which span 39 1/3 innings. He has struck out 52 batters in that time. His 72 K's on the season trail only Anderson's 99 among pitchers in Seattle's system.
Armed with a high-90s fastball and two secondary offerings -- a changeup and a slider -- that can look like plus pitches at times, Sloan now has a 6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 139 career innings in the Minors.