Catching up with Atlanta Braves prospect right-handed pitcher Ian Anderson
By Jeff Schafer
Braves 1st round pick (3rd overall) in the 2016 MLB Draft is on his way to the bigs
The 3rd overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft signed with the Atlanta Braves for $4M — under slot — and immediately was placed under the Braves “next big thing” label. He was signed out of Shenendehowa High School in Ballston Lake, New York as an 18-year-old with lots of promise.
He joined the Braves organization on June 25, when he made it official and signed on the dotted lines.
When he was drafted, these major folks said this about Anderson…
- John Sickels said of the 6’3″/170 pounder that his fastball sits at 91-94 mph, with bursts to 96-97… with movement. His curveball might be an average to plus offering, but his changeup is said to be very good. He also likes his control, and of course it’s all about control.
- BaseballDraftReport repeated a line calling him a “more explosive Aaron Nola” with “ten-years-in-the-big-leagues veteran command.”
- BaseballAmerica noted that the Braves had seen “nearly every pitch” the right-hander had thrown in the past year.
In 2016, he made 10 starts after being drafted with the Gulf Coast Braves and the Danville Braves. He went 1-2 with a 2.04 ERA and had 36 strikeouts in 39.2 innings pitched.
In 2017, he was moved up to the Rome Braves and stayed their the entire season. He started 20 games and held a 3.14 ERA with 101 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched.
The Braves sent the 19-year-old (soon to be 20 on May 2nd) to the High Single-A Florida Fire Frogs to start the 2018 season. So far, he’s started three games, has a 4.76 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 11.1 innings pitched.
There’s a good chance Anderson stays with the Fire Frogs for the entire season, but it would be nice to see him promoted to Mississippi before the end of the season. If so, that would put him in line to earn a spot at Triple-A Gwinnett in 2019 and a chance to be with the Atlanta Braves by 2020.
Anderson is slated by MLB.com as the Braves #5 prospect in the organization.
YouTube reporter Tyler Boronski (TyBoronski10) recently caught up with Anderson to reflect on his time in the major leagues with the Braves organization and his future. Boronski gave Tomahawk Take exclusive permission to use this interview.
Tyler Boronski: You’re a Braves top prospect, a 1st-round pick in 2016, do you feel the need to live up to those expectations? Do you feel the pressure?
Ian Anderson: A little bit, but at the end of the day it’s still baseball. You still go out there and love to play the game. A lot of it is out of your control you just have to do what’s got you to this point and keep working. Hopefully things will work out.
TB: For Braves fans that don’t know, what’s in your pitching arsenal?
IA: I have a four-seam fastball, curveball and changeup. I throw a lot of fastballs. Fastball, curveball mostly and the changeup to lefties to try and get them off the fastball. Pretty basic, just three pitches.
TB: What’s impressed me, is your delivery, it’s very consistent. Very balanced and repetitive. Is that something that has always came naturally to you or is that something you’ve always worked on?
IA: I think with anyone pitching wise you kind of always have to be tinkering with your delivery and pitches and stuff. And if not, you’re just going to get worse. It’s kind of a consistent adjustments. Not just for me, I think for all the guys we have, you constantly have to work on your craft to keep getting better.
TB: You’re only 19-years-old still and just beginning your third year in pro-ball, but it’s really not that long ago since you were in high school so what’s that transition been like?
IA: Yeah, it’s been quite the adjustment period, but this being the third year now I’ve kind of getting used to it and a lot better now than I was when I got drafted. We have plenty of other guys that took the same route — Bryse Wilson and Joey (Wentz) — so they’re going through the exact same thing. It’s been great to talk with those guys, we’re all kind of in this together.
TB: With Spring Training being at ESPN Wild World of Sports, Atlanta Braves legends are always walking around. Have you interacted with any of the Braves legends?
IA: Yeah, we’ve had the chance to meet a lot of those guys. Glavine, Smoltz, Chipper, Fred McGriff has been around. It’s been cool just to learn from them. And I think Jose Bautista is supposed to be coming here to play at some point eventually so that will be cool to talk with him and just see what he’s got.
TB: You mentioned some of the Braves pitching prospects that are in the organization. How exciting is that for you to be a part of an organization where you know we’re going to be pretty good in the coming years.
IA: Yeah, it’s cool. We had a chance to go to the futures game in Atlanta and everyone got to pitch an inning and we ended up doing pretty well. So that was good experience. Just going through it with all those guys, they have the same pressure and are going through the same thing. It’s really good to talk to them and just see what they’re thinking and how they get through certain situations.