Hold onto your hats, baseball fans, because a new pitching phenom might be on the horizon! You might want to start scouting for those Ryan Sloan baseball cards now, because this young Mariners prospect is already making waves that suggest a very bright future. At just 20 years old, Sloan, a second-round draft pick from 2024, isn't just collecting cards; he's collecting strikeouts! He even mentioned that he enjoys collecting cards of other prospects, a relatable hobby for someone like him who's just starting to carve out his own path in the professional baseball world.
This spring, however, Sloan isn't just on a boat; he's on a rocket ship! The big question on everyone's mind is: what will the future hold for this talented pitcher? If his recent Cactus League debut is anything to go by, his baseball card is definitely one to keep.
In a truly impressive display during the fourth inning, this young man from Aurora, Illinois, needed a mere 12 pitches to shut down the Texas Rangers. His opening pitch was a 98.9-mph four-seam fastball, a blistering offering that zipped down the outside corner, forcing a weak swing from the Rangers' catcher, Kyle Higashioka, and eliciting murmurs of awe from the press box. When playfully questioned about not hitting 99 mph, Sloan quipped, “That’s all I had. It’s coming. It’ll come.” And we believe him!
After Higashioka flied out to center field, Sloan proceeded to strike out second baseman Josh Smith on three pitches, the last of which was another 98.9-mph fastball that painted the top of the strike zone. Smith seemed to linger in the batter's box, a silent testament to the pitch's quality, before third baseman Ezequiel Duran grounded out to short. In total, with just 12 pitches, 10 of which were strikes, and minimal apparent effort, Sloan made a powerful statement.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson was clearly impressed, noting, “He filled up the (strike) zone. Didn’t feel like the moment of getting into a big-league game like this … it didn’t bother him at all. Even talking to him on the bench afterwards, nothing seems to really shake him. That’s something you really like to see. For a first outing, it was outstanding.” Even Seattle's starting pitcher, Logan Gilbert, who gave up two hits and one earned run in his outing, chimed in with a touch of playful sarcasm: “It turns out, he’s pretty good. I wish he pitched way later in the game, because he came in right after me and was throwing 99 and the best sweeper in the world. So it makes me feel a little bit old, but it’s nice to have that many arms.”
And this is where it gets really exciting for the Mariners: with a rotation that faced significant injury challenges in 2025, the emergence of two premier pitching prospects is a massive boost. Sloan, alongside 2025 third overall pick Kade Anderson, are both poised to make their mark in the big leagues sooner rather than later. Anderson also showed his prowess by striking out the side in his first spring training inning on Saturday, setting the stage for Sloan's impressive follow-up performance the next day.
Sloan and Anderson share a strong bond, as Sloan explained last month: “I think we’re very like-minded, which makes it easier to be around the person consistently. He wants to be extremely good, and I’m in the same boat. So being able to go back and forth with each other and almost [have] a friendly competition … you’ll see that in the gym, you’ll see that on the mound. But we’ve got a really good relationship.”
While his Cactus League debut was stellar, Sloan hasn't been without his challenges. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound prospect was named Seattle's minor league pitcher of the year in 2025, boasting a combined ERA of 3.73 with 15 walks and 90 strikeouts over 21 starts across Class A Modesto and High-A Everett. He was particularly dominant in July, with a 1.13 ERA, 20 strikeouts, and only 3 walks in four exceptional starts. Remarkably, he allowed two or fewer walks in all 21 of his starts before turning 20 years old.
His success hasn't gone unnoticed. Sloan is now widely considered a top-100 prospect, ranked No. 60 by Baseball America, No. 33 by MLB, and No. 32 by Baseball Prospectus. There are even reports that the St. Louis Cardinals inquired about Sloan as part of a package for All-Star Brendan Donovan – a request the Mariners wisely declined.
However, he did encounter some difficulties in three starts after his promotion to Everett last August, surrendering 14 hits and 7 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings, resulting in a 5.56 ERA. These dips in performance, in part, spurred him to adopt a more structured approach.
“I think last season proved that my stuff was really good, and that there’s still room for improvement,” Sloan shared on February 14th. “Just mentally I went through a bad stretch, and it taught me a lot about me, about what I need to work on. So I went in the offseason, and I’m like, ‘How strong can I make my routine? How strong can I make all this stuff around the game?’ So when I get on the mound, it’s just a much easier process, and all I have to do is compete.”
And this dedication to improvement has led Sloan to embrace a new hobby, alongside his baseball card collecting: journaling.
“That’s been a big thing for me — just writing down [every morning] what my intentions are, what I want to accomplish, what my goals are,” Sloan explained. “I’ll journal after I throw — what I felt, what I liked, what I can work on throughout the week, really any thoughts that I had that can be helpful in the future.”
This meticulous approach suggests that the future could indeed be filled with innings as dominant as the one we witnessed on Sunday. But here's a crucial caveat for any prospect analysis: Cactus League debuts, while exciting, aren't always guaranteed indicators of future success. This is true even for 20-year-old talents with immense potential, for flamethrowers who boast a potent arsenal of pitches including a four-seam fastball, cutter, slider, changeup, and a sinker added this offseason, and for a franchise known for unearthing pitching gems. In the unpredictable landscape of spring training, diamonds and mirages can sometimes appear remarkably similar.
But honestly, who am I kidding? You should absolutely start collecting Ryan Sloan cards. When asked if they'll soon be worth a lot of money, Sloan simply laughed and replied, “They will. They will, yeah.”
Now, here's where we want to hear from you! Do you think Ryan Sloan's Cactus League debut is a true sign of what's to come, or is it too early to tell? Are you as excited as we are about the Mariners' young pitching talent? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
