Kid can pitch.
At the outset of Spring Training, over on the Meet at the Mitt Podcast, myself, Kate, and Max spoke with Ryan Sloan about his nascent career, the delight of being a teenager and hitting the thresholds of velocity and movement that you’re seeing on television from your sports heroes, and the foodie opportunities afforded by a career made of short business trips all across North America. The 19 year old fireballer is Seattle’s toolsiest pitching prospect, earning the 2024 2nd round pick this lofty locale in a system flush with likely future big leaguers.
Sloan hails from Chicagoland, growing up in Elmhurst, IL and pitching himself into first round consideration ahead of last year’s draft. Seattle’s trepidation against high school hurlers has been pronounced, even beyond Jerry Dipoto’s leadership. The last first round pick used on a prep pitcher was Taijuan Walker, with a compensatory pick at No. 43 overall in the 2010 draft. By contrast, the second round has been where Seattle’s been willing to gamble on teenagers, selecting Sloan 55th overall this past year, following RHP Walter Ford (74th, 2022), RHP Connor Phillips (64th, 2020, albeit out of a junior college), RHP Sam Carlson (55th, 2017), and RHP Nick Neidert (60th, 2015). While all had promising physical tools, Sloan’s size and projection overshadows his forerunners, and a promisingly advanced pitch mix is exceedingly enticing.
That starts with a fastball that sits in the mid to upper 90s. Boasting more run than rise, Sloan’s pitch is a firewood creator on righties, while his changeup generates delectably devious late dive and might be his best secondary. Despite that, there’s stiff competition, as he has a slider with deep multi-plane movement that has long been a wipeout pitch against righties. Sloan uses his body well to generate velocity and movement that comes out without much effort and is heavy on the bats of hitters.
In my appraisal of Sloan, there are the tools for a workhorse starter that require little imagination. His arm circle at delivery moves outwards and can get long and inconsistent, sapping command and consistency, however the zip of his slider is such that he can often escape jams with it regardless. I’m also curious how his fastball shape will play or shift as he works deeper into pro ball. Still, his command is the biggest question mark, based more off a lack of high-level reps than a genuine visible flaw.
Reps are what Sloan will hopefully accrue in 2025. The teenage flamethrower is likely to start the season in the Arizona Complex League as the M’s have done with many of their preps in years past, however he could easily work himself up to Low-A Modesto if the M’s are willing to let him throw with some aggression this year. Thankfully, the M’s should not feel rushed to get ahead of their skis with Sloan given their potency at the big league level in the rotation under contract for at least another few years. No arm in Seattle’s system has more obvious ace potential than Sloan, with the teen flashing more potent stuff than most of the M’s rotation was at his age.