PEORIA, Ariz. — It’s time to start collecting Ryan Sloan cards.

Take it from Sloan, Seattle’s sensational 20-year-old pitching prospect, who collects baseball cards when he’s not bombarding batters. On Sunday, the 2024 second-round draft pick said: “I’m not into the old cards a ton. Mostly newer stuff. I collect a lot of prospects, which is fun, because they’re kind of in the same boat as me.”

This spring, it looks less like a boat and more like a rocket ship.

The question is what the back of Sloan’s card will say someday.

If Sunday’s Cactus League debut was any indication, Sloan’s card is worth saving. In an emphatic fourth inning, the Aurora, Ill., native needed just 12 pitches to retire the Texas Rangers. His opening salvo was a 98.9-mph, four-seam fastball that sizzled along the outside corner, forcing a weak wave from Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka and a disbelieving murmur inside the press box.

When asked about nudging only 98.9, Sloan lightheartedly lamented: “That’s all I had. It’s coming. It’ll come.”

He had plenty. After Higashioka flew out harmlessly to center, Sloan struck out second baseman Josh Smith on three pitches, the last being another 98.9-mph rocket along the upper rail. Smith stayed in the batter’s box as a silent protest, before third baseman Ezequiel Duran grounded out to short.

With 12 pitches, 10 strikes and minimal stress, Sloan made a mighty impression.

“He filled up the (strike) zone,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “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.”

Added sarcastic Seattle starter Logan Gilbert, who surrendered two hits and one earned run in 2 2/3 innings: “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.”

It’s nice, for a rotation racked with injuries in 2025, to know a pair of premier prospects is waiting in the wings. Sloan and 2025 third overall pick Kade Anderson should both be in the big leagues sooner than later, though the 21-year-old Anderson’s path may be more abridged. Anderson struck out the side in his first spring training inning Saturday.

A day later, Sloan produced a proper sequel.

“I think we’re very like-minded, which makes it easier to be around the person consistently,” Sloan said last month of his dynamic with Anderson. “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.”

Sunday aside, Sloan hasn’t totally avoided adversity. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound powerhouse was named Seattle’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2025, after combining for a 3.73 ERA with 15 walks and 90 strikeouts in 21 starts between Class A Modesto and High-A Everett. He excelled in July specifically, recording a 1.13 ERA with 20 strikeouts and three walks in four scintillating starts. He allowed two or fewer walks in all 21 starts, before turning 20.

That success is not a secret. Sloan has quickly become a consensus top-100 prospect (No. 60 by Baseball America, No. 33 by MLB, No. 32 by Baseball Prospectus). The St. Louis Cardinals reportedly sought Sloan as part of the package for All-Star Brendan Donovan, a request Seattle rightly rejected.

Still, he struggled in three starts after advancing to Everett last August, tagged with 14 hits and seven earned runs in 11 1/3 innings (a 5.56 ERA).

The dips, in part, prompted a more regimented routine.

“I think last season proved that my stuff was really good, and that there’s still room for improvement,” Sloan said Feb. 14. “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.”

Which is why, besides collecting baseball cards, Sloan has added another new hobby:

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 said. “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.”

That future may be filled with innings like the one we saw Sunday.

But here’s a caveat for any prospect column: Cactus League debuts aren’t indicators of anything. Even for 20-year-old baby faces with reservoirs of untapped talent. Even for flamethrowers with a four-seam fastball, a cutter, a slider, a changeup and a sinker he added in the offseason. Even for a franchise that mines diamonds on the mound.

In the desert, diamonds and mirages can look a lot alike.

Oh, who am I kidding? You better start collecting Ryan Sloan cards.

When asked if they’ll soon be worth a lot of money, Sloan laughed and simply said: “They will. They will, yeah.”

____

©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.