Mariners' pick of LSU lefty Kade Anderson at No. 3 their 'best-case scenario'

ATLANTA -- When the Mariners were the sport’s biggest winners in last offseason’s MLB Draft lottery, they knew they’d have the chance at selecting one of the very best prospects in the 2025 class with the No. 3 overall pick.

But they came away with an even bigger coup than they could’ve imagined with the player who wound up falling to them on Sunday.

Seattle landed left-hander Kade Anderson with that selection out of Louisiana State University -- the top pitching prospect in this year’s class, and potentially their ace of the not-too-distant future.

And in another big win in a development that continues to snowball, Anderson agreed to terms on a signing bonus of roughly $8.8 million, according to a source. That’s roughly $700,000 below slot value for the pick, which will allow the club to reallocate that money elsewhere among the rest of their 21 picks. Seattle has a total bonus pool of $17,074,400, the second richest in baseball.

"There were a couple surprises already, and I think we were prepared for all of them,” Mariners vice president of amateur scouting Scott Hunter said, “because we had interest in a lot of the players that went ahead of us and that went right behind us. But to say this worked out as the best-case scenario would be an understatement, since Kade was ranked pretty much No. 1 on our board.”

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Anderson is fresh off a dominant showing in the College World Series, leading LSU to a national championship and earning Most Outstanding Player honors after allowing one run in 16 innings over two starts, including a 1-0 shutout in the first game of the final series against Coastal Carolina.

“I think it's easy to determine a pitcher based on when you're doing good, but I think the ultimate kind of factor for me is when it's not going well, what do you react like?” Anderson said. “And just to continue to go out there and battle, and that's the kind of pitcher I am.”

The performance capped an incredible sophomore season for the 21-year-old left-hander, who finished 2025 with a 12-1 record, a 3.18 ERA, 180 strikeouts (the most among Division I pitchers) and 35 walks over 119 innings, vaulting up MLB Pipeline’s Draft prospect rankings as a result. Anderson was MLB Pipeline’s No. 44 player in December, but he climbed into the Top 10 when the rankings were updated in April and continued to rise from there, jumping all the way to No. 2 going into the Draft.

"We talk about it here all the time. We want winning players, and we want to win here in Seattle,” Hunter said, “and to get a player that has done it -- not only in the SEC, but has won a College World Series, and values winning more than his own progression through a system, that's a culture-changer in our mind.”

Because he’s far more seasoned in his development, the Mariners believe that he could be on an accelerated path to the Majors -- not far off from fellow LSU standout, Paul Skenes, who was taken No. 1 overall in 2023 and made his debut less than one year later. However, because of his high volume at LSU (119 innings), he’s not expected to pitch again this season at a Minor League affiliate, Hunter said.

The 6-foot-2 southpaw certainly took a circuitous route to get to this point. Although he was one of Louisiana’s best high school players, he missed his senior season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022 and was eased back into action with LSU last year, working as a midweek starter and weekend reliever while posting a 3.99 ERA over 38 1/3 innings.

As a lefty with a diverse arsenal and advanced pitchability, Anderson comes with a high floor. But the uptick in stuff he showed this past spring also gives scouts reason to believe he could eventually develop into a frontline starter. He features a legitimate four-pitch mix, with two distinct breaking balls to go along with a plus fastball and changeup. While his fastball sits 92-94 mph and occasionally touches 97, the pitch has tended to play much better than his velocity would suggest, carrying past bats up in the strike zone.

“He's got the combination of George Kirby and Logan Gilbert,” Hunter said. “He wants to learn, wants to develop his pitches, like Logan, and he's kind of stoic, like George is, just that silent competitor that may not say a whole lot, but when you talk to him, he says the right things and what's important to us and what's important to him.”

Anderson said Gilbert had already reached out to him via a congratulatory text message.

“He's one of the best in the world, and so just to have that honor for him to reach out was really special,” Anderson said.

A native of Slidell, La., Anderson adds to the growing legacy of highly drafted LSU players. Just two years ago, Skenes and Dylan Crews were the top two picks, with Skenes becoming the first LSU player since Ben McDonald in 1989 to be selected first overall. Other Tigers who have gone in the top 10 in recent years include Jacob Berry (sixth in ’22), Alex Bregman (second in ’15), Aaron Nola (seventh in ’14) and Kevin Gausman (fourth in ’12).

With their second pick of the Draft, the Mariners selected North Carolina catcher Luke Stevenson at No. 35 overall.