Tyler Anderson

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Note: This page discusses 2010s and 2020s pitcher Tyler Anderson. For the minor league coach of the same name, click here.

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Tyler John Anderson

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Biographical Information[edit]

Tyler Anderson was a first-round pick in the 2011 amateur draft.

Anderson was taken in the 50th round of the 2008 amateur draft out of high school by the Minnesota Twins. He was one of three high schoolers Minnesota took that year but failed to sign and who would be first-rounders three years later. The others were Kolten Wong and George Springer. As a college freshman, the big left-hander left a lot to be desired at 2-9, 6.26. He improved to 7-5, 2.98 as a sophomore and was 5th in the Pacific-10 Conference in ERA. He set a school record with 105 strikeouts, 6th-most in the Pac-10. He was the first All-Conference pitcher from Oregon in 39 years, joining Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole and Seth Blair as 2010 All-Pac-10 pitchers who wound up being first round picks. In the 2010 World University Championship, Anderson struck out six and allowed two hits in five shutout innings in his lone appearance, teaming with Kyle Winkler in a shutout of China. The US got the Silver Medal and Anderson joined Matt Barnes as US hurlers with a perfect ERA in the Championship.

His junior year, Anderson set Oregon records for strikeouts in a career (285), season (114) and game (14). For the year, he was 8-3 with a 2.17 ERA and .201 opponent average. The Colorado Rockies chose Tyler with the 20th pick of the 2011 amateur draft, right after fellow 2010 Team USA mound mates Sonny Gray and Barnes. Anderson was signed by scout Jesse Retzlaff for a reported $1.4 million at the signing deadline on August 15th. He reported to the Tri-City Dust Devils in the Northwest League, but did not pitch for them as the Rockies wanted him to get his first professional experience in the Arizona Fall League. He started 2012 with the Asheville Tourists, going 5-0 in his first 7 starts.

Anderson made his major league debut with the Rockies on June 12, 2016, starting against the San Diego Padres. It was a strong performance as he pitched into the 7th inning, giving up 1 run on 6 hits, no walks and 6 strikeouts although he ended up with a no-decision. He earned his first win on July 9th, when he defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3. In that game, he also got his first career hit, a single, and hit his first homer. Both hits came off Jerad Eickhoff. Anderson pitched off and on in Denver the next four years, peaking with 32 starts and a 7-9, 4.55 mark in 176 innings in 2018. The next year, 20219, he made just five horrifying starts (11.76 ERA, 20 2/3 innings) before undergoing knee surgery. He was claimed on waivers by the San Francisco Giants after the season and signed a new one-year deal in December for 2020. He made a nice comeback for the Giants, going 4-3, 4.37 in 13 games, including 11 starts and logging 59 2/3 innings as the very definition of a league-average starter (his ERA+ was an even 100).

In 2021, he signed another one-year deal, this one with the Pittsburgh Pirates and was one of the more reliable starters on a struggling team during the first four months. In 18 starts, he went 5-8, 4.35, his ERA+ dipping to 95 as scoring was down throughout baseball. Still, that made him an attractive proposition to teams looking for some pitching help down the stretch, and on July 27th he was dealt to the Seattle Mariners in return for two prospects, C Carter Bins and P Joaquin Tejada. With Seattle, he went 2-3, 4.81 in 13 starts to fin ish the year at 7-11, 4.53 in 31 starts. He pitched 167 innings and struck out 134 batters.

It's fair to say that no one took notice when he signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2021-2022 lockout on March 18, 2022. he was not even expected to make the Dodgers' starting rotation given how strong a team they were, and indeed made his first two appearances coming out of the bullpen. However, Andrew Heaney went on the injured list after two strong starts, and Tyler took his place and did not look back. In his first 8 starts with the Dodgers, he picked up 6 wins, and having earned one in one of his two relief outings, he was 7-0, 2.59 after a win on June 3rd. This included a streak of not giving up a single earned run over his last 26 innings. On June 15th, he went one better in a start against the Los Angeles Angels, taking a no-hitter into the 9th inning before Shohei Ohtani hit a triple after he had started off the inning by striking out Mike Trout. He threw a career-high 123 pitches that night in his bid at getting his name in the history books, and was immediately replaced by closer Craig Kimbrel. Matt Duffy hit a single to drive in Ohtani, but Kimbrel struck out the next two batters to end the game and give Tyler a 4-1 win. But the historic night almost wasn't, as the first batter he faced, Taylor Ward, hit a ball to the outfield on which RF Mookie Betts and CF Cody Bellinger collided, allowing the ball to drop; it was originally ruled a hit, but the official scorer reversed himself, giving an error to Bellinger, well before anyone was thinking the game could be a no-hitter. Betts suffered a cracked rib on the play, which sent him to the injured list a few days later. And even after that, another hit was added when Jared Walsh, who was originally called safe on an error by Anderson in the 7th, was later credited with a single. He made the All-Star team for the first time and finished the season at 15-5, 2.57 in 30 games, with 138 strikeouts and just 145 hits allowed in 178 2/3 innings. He started Game 4 of the Division Series against the San Diego Padres on October 15th and pitched 5 scoreless innings before being replaced - but the Dodgers still went on to lose the game, 5-3. He made it known after the game that he thought he could have pitched longer (he had thrown just 86 pitches).

Following the 2022 season, on November 15th, he was reported to have signed a free agent contract across town with the Los Angeles Angels, after rejecting a qualifying offer from the Dodgers. The deal was for three years and $39 million.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Sources[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Rhett Bollinger: "Tyler Anderson has 3-year deal with Angels (sources)", mlb.com, November 15, 2022. [1]
  • Juan Toribio: "Anderson’s no-no bid begins with base hit, ends on Shohei triple in 9th", mlb.com, June 16, 2022. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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