Ryan Sloan

Sloan, a 6-foot-5 righty the Mariners gave $3 million to out of high school in 2024, doesn't have any obvious weaknesses after reaching High-A at the end of his age-19 season. Of course, the same thing could have been said at certain points about Andrew Painter, Jackson Jobe, Forrest Whitley, Dylan Bundy, etc... Prep righties can break our hearts for reasons that are seemingly outside of everyone's control. In his debut season, Sloan showed three plus pitches, ideal size, and an enviable combination of strikeout upside (27.0 K%) and the ability to generate weak contact (50.0 GB%). He closed the year with 13 strikeouts and zero walks in 11.1 innings across four starts at High-A. Health permitting, Sloan and his mid-90s fastball (touches 98 mph), upper-80s slider and low-90s changeup should give Double-A hitters fits this summer, and he could even reach Triple-A at some point in his age-20 season. History has taught us that there's an ever-present risk associated with hard-throwing righties at this stage of their development, but if Sloan continues on his current trajectory, he could finish 2026 as the game's No. 1 pitching prospect. Read Past Outlooks