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Scouting report on Atlanta Braves top prospect Ian Anderson (RHP)

By Jake Mastroianni

KANSAS CITY, MO - JULY 02: Baseballs on the field before the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on July 2, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Brian Davidson/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO - JULY 02: Baseballs on the field before the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on July 2, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Brian Davidson/Getty Images) /
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CLEVELAND, OH – AUGUST 1: Pitcher Yu Darvish #11 of the Texas Rangers practices his grip in the dugout during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on August 1, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH – AUGUST 1: Pitcher Yu Darvish #11 of the Texas Rangers practices his grip in the dugout during the seventh inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on August 1, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

The arsenal

As much success as Ian has had in the Minor Leagues so far, he’s really just doing it with two pitches.

He features a very good fastball that sits in the low 90s, and he compliments that with a plus curveball that he’s not afraid to throw in any count.

Other scouting reports I’ve seen say that Anderson sits 92-94 MPH with his fastball and that he can bump it up to 96.

The radar gun at the Barons ballpark is always 2-3 MPH slow and it consistently had Anderson at 88-91 MPH. That leads me to believe he is most likely sitting 91-93.

The roster lists him at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, and that 170 might be generous. As he fills out that frame I expect him to add a few MPH to his fastball.

His curveball is a legit 12-6 curveball and there weren’t many good swings on that pitch. I think that’s why a lot of Barons hitters swung early in the count because they didn’t want to fall behind and face his curveball.

The pitch that will determine whether or not he’s going to be a middle or top-of-the-rotation pitcher is his change-up.

There is very little doubt that Anderson will make it to the big leagues with his fastball and curveball. As mentioned, both are advanced offerings, and we’ve already seen what Max Fried has been able to do with those two pitches.

But I wouldn’t quite put Anderson’s curveball in the same category as Fried’s just yet.

If Anderson is going to stick at the top of the Atlanta Braves rotation for a long time, he has to develop a usable change-up.

And from what I saw on Sunday, his change-up is nowhere close to being usable. He probably threw it less than 10 times in this game, and I only saw one that was good, and he got a strikeout with that change-up.

Most of the time he bounced his change-up in the dirt and you could tell the hitters really didn’t respect that offering.

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