New AquaSox pitcher finds success embracing Mariners’ strategy

Published 9:00 am Friday, August 22, 2025

EVERETT — Going into the 2024 MLB Draft just over a year ago, Ryan Sloan was unsure exactly how it would play out for him.

The then-18-year-old from Aurora, Ill. ranked 19th among 2024 Draft Prospects on MLB.com, but he understood the varying opinions among different clubs when it came to drafting pitchers out of high school. He figured he could go anywhere between the first round or the late second.

Despite his uncertainty, he at least had a good idea that the Seattle Mariners were a team to keep an eye on.

“The Mariners seemed pretty interested at the draft combine,” Sloan said. “I had a longer slot with them. Talked to (assistant GM and Vice President) Andy McKay. (I’m) pretty close with the area scouts, so obviously there was some interest. But I just didn’t know if things would line up.”

The picks rolled through the first round and past the compensatory and competitive balance rounds without Sloan hearing his name called. Three high school pitchers went in the second round before Seattle picked him 55th overall.

While it was a disappointing slide for Sloan, it was the best-case scenario for McKay, who had left Sloan’s home visit impressed by his competitiveness, maturity and love for the game on top of his “elite-level stuff.”

“I can’t answer for the other teams (who passed on him). We loved him,” McKay said. “Our scouts loved him. … (I) walked away thinking, ‘This is somebody we absolutely need to get into our organization,’ and we’re just grateful that he was there when it was our turn to pick.”

The Mariners put their money where their mouth was, signing Sloan to a $3 million bonus, which was nearly $1.4 million above slot value. He spent the rest of 2024 at the Arizona Complex before starting 2025 with Low-A Modesto, and the 6-foot-5, 220-pound righty is showing positive signs towards Seattle’s potential return on investment.

After making 18 starts for Modesto this season, posting a 3.44 ERA and striking out 77 batters while walking just 15, Sloan has soared up prospect rankings. He ranks fifth in the Mariners system and is the second pitcher behind 2025 third overall pick Kade Anderson, according to MLB. Among all prospects, he’s in the top 50 overall on MLB (42nd) and ESPN (43rd), and is 67th according to Baseball America.

The reason for his rise? Sloan has committed to filling the strike zone, and with trust in his stuff, he’s executing exactly what the organization has in mind for him.

“Close to the beginning of the season, we had a lot of meetings just talking about how, given all the statistics and research, when you get ahead, you end up doing pretty well,” Sloan said. “So kind of throughout the season, just like, I’m gonna throw as many strikes as I can. … For me, I felt like it was easier to bring stuff that was thrown in the zone to then throw it out of the zone when it came to two strikes or when I was ahead, so I just kind of practiced throwing stuff in the zone, and then I can expand where I need to.”

It’s a simple concept, but harder to execute for most. Not for Sloan, at least not yet. His strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.133) in Modesto tells just part of that story. Now a new test presents itself in Everett, where he was promoted on Aug. 10. Pitching coach Matt Carasiti is excited to get to work with him.

“I think the whole makeup is impressive,” Carasiti said. “Obviously, the stuff is really good, but just the ability to understand what the goals are and what we expect from the pitching side, and for him to just lean into that at a young age is like a huge step forward in development, especially at 19. But I think he understands the process that we have, and I think he understands how good his stuff is, so it just simplifies the whole approach down to just throw it over the plate as much as you can.”

Upon Sloan’s arrival in Low-A, Modesto pitching coach Jake Witt recognized his talent right away. The biggest step in preparing him for the next level was building up his confidence and encouraging him to challenge opponents with his stuff, not shying away from anyone. Witt called Sloan “a boring kid,” in a complimentary way. He would routinely go out and do what was asked of him week after week.

With his success in Modesto, Sloan has not yet encountered any real “forks in the road,” according to Witt. Now going against more experienced players with better-developed approaches in High-A, he naturally may hit a roadblock at some point. If and when that happens, Witt is not concerned about how Sloan will handle it. He’s worked with plenty of teenage pitchers who will experience emotional lapses after unlucky plays, but Sloan is not one of them.

“A little thing happens in the game: He throws a really good pitch, guy throws his bat out, gets a bloop hit where like a normal, understandable thing would be for the pitcher to get mad,” Witt said. “But Sloan understood it. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I threw a good pitch. He just got lucky.’ He’s by far one of the most mature kids I’ve ever worked with.”

Whether he has a good or bad outing, Sloan just wants to learn something new each time at this early stage of his career.

“When I can’t figure out what to take from (an) outing, that’s when the time where it’s like, I can’t sleep,” Sloan said. “Because you’re just trying to find, ‘What am I supposed to take from this outing? What am I supposed to learn?’ So that’s been more of my goal.”

In his AquaSox debut in Hillsboro on Aug. 16, Sloan learned he was able to pick up right where he left off in Modesto. He allowed four hits, one earned run and no walks in four innings while tossing two strikeouts. On 52 pitches, just 10 were balls. It’s impossible to make full judgments off one game, but the Mariners are pleased to see him translate all the off-field work into on-field success.

“He’s taken his stuff, he’s gone out, he’s performed with it,” McKay said. “He’s gotten people out, but what he’s doing in terms of throwing strikes, you know, it becomes a separating skill that you have those kinds of weapons in terms of velocity and a breaking ball and a changeup, and then you put it all together. Like he just went up to Everett for his first start. He threw, like 80 percent strikes in an outing, and so you’re talking about a young high school player who gets promoted to High-A, and he doesn’t flinch. He’s coming right after you, and that’s a very revealing outing of just how tough this kid is.”

Sloan is expected to make his next start, and home debut, against the Spokane Indians on Saturday. For an Everett team sitting dead-last in the Northwest League second-half standings but is still gearing up for the championship series following their first-half title, Sloan could represent a key boost to the pitching staff down the stretch. Carasiti, who says he sometimes looks at a pitcher in High-A and can think of 10 different things he wants to change with him, just wants Sloan to keep doing what he’s doing.

The biggest focus going forward will be taking care of his arm, not wanting to overwork it in his first pro season. Carasiti pointed out that, on top of correcting what a pitcher may be doing wrong, the organization also presents what each one does well and paints a clear picture about what they expect from a player. The expectations for Sloan are higher than most pitchers in the system, but he’s backed it up each time.

“When you have the ability to pitch like you’re on offense, and you have the stuff to back it up, I think it makes for a really simplified approach,” Carasiti said. “(…) For a young high school kid to come into the first year and buy into that fully, and just commit to that, I think that’s the big reason why you see, you know, the up-shoot in rankings.”