PEORIA, Ariz. -- Ryan Sloan jogged from beyond the left-field fence and settled in on the Peoria Sports Complex mound prior to the fourth inning of Sunday’s 9-4 loss to the Rangers, pumping his high-octane arsenal during his warmup pitches. The music between innings died down and he toed the rubber, ready to make his official Spring Training debut.
But there was just one problem: he couldn’t hear the PitchCom device.
He ripped his hat off to discover there wasn’t one in there, leading to a brief delay so that he could get situated. After the pitching equivalent of hitting a pot hole as you back out of the driveway for the first time, Sloan reared back and threw a hellacious 98.9-mph fastball on the outer-third that got a half-hearted swing out of Kyle Higashioka, a veteran about to embark on his 10th Major League season.
It’s hard to imagine Sloan’s 12-pitch debut having gone better. He retired all three batters he faced -- all of whom are expected to play key roles for the Rangers this season -- with three whiffs, one each on his four-seamer, sinker and sweeping slider. He averaged 98.2 mph and 15 inches of induced vertical break on the quartet of four-seamers that he threw.
“I was excited,” Sloan said about his first Cactus League outing. “I'm just not gonna let the environment dictate what I know works, so I just go out there, take my time, just really take it all in and just stick to what I know has worked.
“I know my stuff's good, and getting to face these guys kind of continues to stack on to that confidence that I can go out there and compete with really anyone.”
With Mariners starting catcher Cal Raleigh having departed Saturday to join Team USA ahead of the World Baseball Classic, the duties of catching Sloan -- and starter Logan Gilbert -- fell to Andrew Knizner, a seven-year vet in his own right.
As Sloan entered the clubhouse after his outing, Knizner immediately chirped up with his impression of the outing: “Nasty, bro!”
The praise was far-reaching.
“I wish he pitched way later in the game because he came in right after me and was throwing 99 [mph] and the best sweeper in the world, so it makes me feel a little bit old,” said a tongue-in-cheek Gilbert.
“Didn't feel like the moment of getting into a big league game like this bothered him at all,” manager Dan Wilson said of Sloan. “Even talking to him on the bench afterwards, nothing really seems to shake him, and that's something that you really like to see. [For it to be] the first outing for him, outstanding.”
Sloan, a second-round pick by Seattle in the 2024 MLB Draft out of the Illinois high school ranks, just turned 20 years old before camp officially opened. He has only one Minor League season under his belt (between Single-A and High-A), but his performance in live batting practice has already become the stuff of Mariners legend.
It feels like just yesterday that Gilbert made his own Cactus League debut at the Peoria Sports Complex on March 10, 2019. That day, the 6-foot-6 right-hander entered the game behind the club’s ace, Félix Hernández. The parallels are just seven years apart, but also serve as a reminder of how quickly the game can move, particularly when it comes to those supremely talented.
(Also notable from the fun with numbers department: Gilbert’s highest rank on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list before the start of the season? No. 33 in 2021, the same spot that Sloan holds just five years later.)
For all of the buzz Sloan created, it was also a pivotal day for Gilbert, who continued to refine his arsenal before the start of the season. He avoided disaster out of the gate, attempting to make a tumbling, once-in-a-lifetime play after leadoff batter Alejandro Osuna hit a tapper that deflected off him. Gilbert came out no worse for wear and after some experimentation with his pitch mix, tossed 44 pitches (29 strikes) across 2 2/3 innings with two hits and one run allowed. He struck out three and got the swing-and-miss he sought, racking up 10 whiffs on 21 swings.
“I think the cutter today was right where we want it, so that's a good sign,” said Gilbert. “Just continually trying to check boxes as we go and hopefully they stay there.”