Ian Anderson Shows Stuff That Put Him Among Elite

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Besides being immensely talented players, Mickey Moniak, Blake Rutherford, Braxton Garrett and Ian Anderson have three things in common: They were each selected in the first round of last year’s draft, they were all part of the USA Baseball 18U team that won gold in Japan in 2015, and they are all spending their first full seasons as professionals in the South Atlantic League.

Anderson, whom the Braves chose with the No. 3 overall pick last June, said the obvious after his start on Sunday night: All four players are still friends, but you’d better believe they badly want to get the better of one another when their teams cross paths.

“I’ve even gotten a chance to play against Rutherford so far this year, another guy I played with (on the 18U team), and it was great,” Anderson said. “I did pretty well against him actually. I think I struck him out and he grounded out. He’d had my number in the past, though.”

Garrett, who will make his professional debut on Monday, watched from the stands as Anderson pitched against Greensboro on Sunday, said the same.

“It’s going to be awesome. Those guys on that team are my best friends of all time. That’s going to be awesome for the both of us,” he said, before noting he’d be particularly amped during those matchups. “Oh yeah, and they want to hit me. That’s the thing—we love to compete.”

Against Greensboro on Sunday, Anderson showed the stuff that put him among the elite as an amateur. His fastball sat between 93-95 mph all night long and touched 97. His curveball, thrown in the high-70s with 11-to-5 shape, showed hard bite at times and elicited a few swings and misses as well. The same went for his mid-80s changeup, which was an effective weapon against both lefthanders and righthanders and featured tremendous late fade on occasion.

He pitched from behind in the count often, however, a product of some shaky fastball command that drove his pitch count up. He exited after four innings having surrendered three runs (all earned) on six hits and three walks. He struck out seven and threw 53 of his 82 pitches for strikes. Two of the runs against him were driven home on duck-snort singles, and another scored when a fastball went to the backstop.

“I felt great out there today,” Anderson said. “I felt like I was making the pitches I wanted to make. A couple bloop hits here and there, a couple of jam shots, but for the most part I felt good. . . . For the most part I thought I threw the pitches I wanted to throw and they put a couple of good swings on some of them—like the double down the line—but other than that I felt like the catcher did a great job calling the game and the defense did a great job behind me.”

Part of being in the South Atlantic League means there are some grueling road trips ahead for Anderson and his teammates. The 14-hour bus ride from Rome to Lakewood, N.J. in July will be a particularly taxing way to spend an off day. For Anderson, though, it might be a little easier. First, he’s already traversed the globe as part of that 18U team two years ago. Second, he’s a native New Yorker and will have family waiting to see him once he gets up north.

“It will be good to get some family to the game and it will be good to get to see my parents,” said Anderson, who, besides getting to face Moniak in an official game for the first time, expects to have his parents, grandparents and brothers waiting for him in Lakewood when the time comes.

In the meantime, Anderson just wants to continue to refine his command and control. He’s walked 17 hitters in 28 innings so far with Rome, and he’d like to cut that number down as much as possible.

“I want to cut down on my walks a little bit. That’s kind of been a struggle a little bit so far,” he said. “Fastball command is one of the biggest things, too. Early on I thought I had it and then it went away a little bit and then I got it back, but other than that I just want to control the game and realize that I’m in charge out there and can go at my own pace.”