Seattle Mariners Minor League Roundup – Week Five

Arkansas Travelers

The Travs have finally started to get things moving in the right direction, capping a convincing 5-1 series victory with an extra-innings win on Sunday afternoon. The offense, while not overwhelming, has been showing signs of life as of late, and with as dominant as their pitching staff has been through the first month of the season, expect the Travelers to be in the win column more often than not. It’s official: Kade Anderson is appointment television. Working another 4.2 scoreless innings on Friday night, the only things thwarting his excellence was a rain delay that ended his night early. Regardless of weather, Anderson racked up eight more punchouts with zero walks, lowering his season ERA to 0.48 through four starts. He’s striking out the world, walking nobody, and running a ~58% GB rate, essentially checking every single box possible as a starting pitcher bidding for a big league debut. Whether he ascends to the majors this year or not seems like it will largely be out of his hands, but he’s yet to show a hole in his repertoire and looks every bit of a top minor league arm. Should the opportunity present itself, he’ll be ready. Ryan Sloan had his best start in Double-A this weekend, hurling 4.2 innings of two run ball, his only wart being a two run homer he surrendered in his third inning of work. Punching seven tickets and walking two, Sloan looked much more like himself on the mound, dotting up the edges of the plate and drawing a healthy amount of swing and miss. Hopefully the young 20 year old can take this start and build on it, ideally beginning a string of quality outings to put under his belt and prove he’s adjusting to Double-A successfully. Welcome back, Ty Cummings! The return in the recent Casey Legumina trade, Cummings was drafted by the Mariners in 2023 but was shipped off as a PTBNL in the Randy Arozarena deal. Now making his return, Cummings joins an already strong Travelers staff that’s held this team together.

Everett AquaSox

Locking down a 4-2 series victory against Spokane this week, Everett’s lineup is really starting to take shape. The bats they absolutely have to have producing are finally looking like their typical selves, and even though the starting pitching has been rough thus far, they’ve got enough interesting bullpen arms to piece together something on the back end. This roster’s a super fun watch that should produce several big leaguers when it’s all said and done. Hello, Felnin Celesten! After a cold start to the season, Celesten is on a bit of a heater at the plate as of late, reaching base 12 times in five games and striking out just twice. He’s starting to find some holes and is coming into his own in the power department, now getting to some extra-base thump that wasn’t happening early in the year. The switch-hitter still has a silky smooth glove on the dirt and a sky high ceiling if he can put it all together, but proving it has been rocky thus far. Hopefully this stretch is a sign of what’s to come for the uber-talented shortstop. Luke Stevenson continues to be a revelation at the plate, refusing to give the opposing pitcher free strikes with chase off the plate. He’s walking as much as he’s punching out and is displaying supreme patience at the plate, consistently seeing a ton of pitches and forcing the pitcher into long at bats. Now with an OBP at .485, Stevenson seems like a strong candidate for a promotion to Double-A sometime this summer. Axel Sanchez has had an up-and-down career in the minors, but he’s off to a torrid start to the 2026 season. Rocking an OPS north of 1.000, Sanchez deserves a ton of credit for being a run-producing force in this lineup. Somehow already in his fourth season (!!!) in Everett, the results need to be taken with a grain of salt, but the production has been a major key for this lineup regardless of any caveats attached to it.

Inland Empire 66ers

The 66ers split this week’s series with the Ports, unable to push for a victory despite some excellent starting pitching performances. This team has some incredibly compelling performers from game to game, but as a whole, the fringes of the roster have proven to be fallible thus far. The strength of the Arkansas and Everett squads had to come from somewhere, and unfortunately for the newest affiliate of the organization, the 66ers paid the price. Jackson Steensma continues to vie for the title of “staff ace” for this 66ers ball club. Last year’s ninth rounder, the physical right hander worked another four innings of one run ball, striking out seven along the way and raising his season total to 17 through ten innings. Generating 18 whiffs across those four innings, Steensma had his entire arsenal working flawlessly on Sunday afternoon, dominating with fastballs above the top rail and sliders down and away. He’s got just one walk all year, moves well down the mound, and brings the physical frame of a prototypical starter. He checks a ton of boxes and looks like an incredibly interesting late round arm that’s worth monitoring. After a down week last week, Korbyn Dickerson returned to form and helped carry a lackluster lineup all week. Recording at least one knock in all six games, Dickerson has cut back on the K’s and is walking at an exceptional rate, a promising sign that bodes well for his future success against better competition. He’s knocking the ball around the ballpark, swiping bases, and locking down centerfield, effectively accomplishing everything you could ask out of a player in his first full season of professional baseball. His tools alone make him a fascinating prospect to follow; if this level of production continues, don’t be shocked to see his prospect pedigree ascend a tier or two by midseason. Ricardo Cova continues to be an optimal table setter atop this lineup. The undersized infielder has great bat-to-ball skills and is showing some better power this season, a major facet of his game that’s been missing to this point. Hopefully he’s able to keep this power stroke up and prove he’s made some tangible changes to his skillset.