Braves: Ian Anderson Might Be Losing His Grip on a Rotation Spot

After another rough outing on Thursday, the Atlanta Braves may have to consider replacing Ian Anderson in the rotation for the time being. 

The Atlanta Braves came into Thursday’s game against the Phillies look to cap off what was a great month of June with a sweep of their division rivals.

But the game was basically over before it started as Ian Anderson surrendered 7 runs in the second inning. Atlanta would go on to lose the game 14-4.

As for the young righty, he has had a tough time getting things going in 2022 as he currently owns a 5.31 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in 76.1 innings.

He’s given up 4 earned runs or more in six of his last eight starts, and he’s only made it past the fourth inning once in his last four starts.

His struggles a third time through the lineup have always hurt him — partially due to his lack of trust or development of a third pitch.

More-and-more hitters are spitting on the change-up down in the zone and jumping on fastballs up — he’s becoming too predictable.

It’s certainly not a good trend for Ian and if you have to wonder if Brian Snitker and the Braves are considering making a move.

Braves: Should the Braves Send Down Ian Anderson?

It’s hard to believe as he’s had so much success and pitched in so many big games for the Braves already in his career, but Ian Anderson is still just 24 years old.

Sending him down now to work on some things wouldn’t be all that ridiculous even though he seems like a seasoned veteran at this point.

But it’s becoming pretty obvious that the league has made some major adjustments to him, and if he’s ever going to become that solid two or three starts, which I still think he can be, he has to make some adjustments of his own.

The question then becomes, can he make those adjustments on the fly at the big league level for a team trying to win a division and reach the postseason? Or is it better to send him down to a more conducive environment for development at Triple-A?

That’s certainly a big decision the Braves are likely considering.

If they do decide to send him down, Kyle Muller has done more than enough over the last two months at Gwinnett to show he deserves another shot.

Since being sent back down to Gwinnett in May after a rough outing in Texas, Muller has gone at least 6 innings in seven-of-nine starts and allowed 2 earned runs of less in six of those starts.

In June, he has a 1.87 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and .171 avg against in 5 starts with 43 strikeouts in 33.2 innings pitched and only 6 walks.

Muller had a good run of success in the big leagues last year, so if the Braves do decide to remove Anderson from the rotation, they have a guy ready and waiting.

It’s likely Anderson gets another start or two before a decision is made. By then we could be creeping up on the return of Mike Soroka, and certainly the trade deadline.

Don’t take this as the end of Ian Anderson, the ability to be great is in there, it just might be a good time for him to get sent down to work on things so he can come back and be the guy we’ve seen the past two seasons.