With his biggest supporter in the stands, Ryan Sloan delivered a performance worthy of the moment and easily the best of his professional career.
In many ways, it was ... a perfect performance.
As his mother Amanda cheered him on, Seattle's No. 3 prospect recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts and retired all 18 batters he faced to propel Double-A Arkansas to a 7-3 win against visiting Frisco on Saturday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The Travelers entered the ninth inning three outs away from the first perfect game in the Majors or Minors since last July 13, but the RoughRiders pushed three runs across on two hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
While the fans in attendance might have been disappointed at missing out on history, Sloan's performance was dominance personified and arguably the best by a Minor Leaguer this season.
MLB's No. 21 prospect needed just 61 pitches to complete six innings for the first time in 30 professional starts. In fact, the outing marked the first time Sloan had even thrown a single pitch in the sixth since he made his pro debut last season.
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The 20-year-old was on point from the jump, opening the game with a strikeout and never throwing more than 13 pitches in any inning. Using his upper-90s heater and hard-biting slider, Sloan generated an impressive 18 whiffs on 35 swings (51.4 percent) -- a number that would have been higher if not for 10 foul balls -- and had a strike percentage of 75.4 percent.
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Already averaging more than a strikeout per inning coming into the game, the Illinois native fanned six consecutive batters in the second and third innings, and recorded 10 of his final 15 outs via the K. In addition to his 49 punchouts, which are tied for 10th in the Texas League -- 18 behind teammate and fellow Top 100 prospect Kade Anderson (SEA No. 2/MLB No. 6) -- his 11.8 K/9 and 31.8 percent strikeout rate are elite as well.
Seattle's second-round pick in the 2024 Draft has mixed brilliance with inconsistency through his first year-plus as a pro. Unlike Anderson, who gained valuable experience in college pitching for perennial powerhouse LSU, Sloan is still getting his feet wet after a standout prep career at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois.
He kicked off life as a pro in 2025 in the Single-A California League and finished the season with High-A Everett. A promotion to Double-A to begin 2026 looked aggressive after Sloan struggled in April, but the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder has rebounded this month, posting a 3.52 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP while striking out 32 in 23 innings.