We take a closer look at just how dominant Ian Anderson was in his first big league start with the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.
I’m not sure any Atlanta Braves fan could have predicted a better outcome for Ian Anderson in his first start in the Major Leagues.
While many fans have been screaming for him to get the call-up after the rotation disintegrated, not even the most optimistic of fans thought he’d pitch a one-hitter over six innings against the New York Yankees.
Granted, the Yankees were hardly at full strength in this game, but that doesn’t take away from the masterful job of the 22-year-old.
I wanted to dive a little deeper into the outing and see what made him so great and if this is what we can expect from him going forward.
Atlanta Braves Ian Anderson — The Pitch Mix
Maybe the most incredible thing about Anderson’s start is that he only used three pitchers — a fastball, change-up, and curveball.
He threw the fastball 44.4 percent of the time and mixed that with his change-up 38.9 percent of the time.
The fastball sat around 93-94 MPH with the change-up coming in at around 88 and the curveball at 80.
That’s not a huge difference in velocity, but his change-up had a ton of movement on it and I thought it was his best pitch.
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1298740971115442177?s=20
Atlanta Braves Ian Anderson — The Gameplan
Tyler Flowers was behind the plate for Anderson on Wednesday afternoon and I would not consider him a great signal-caller, but he is an elite pitch-framer.
The umpire was giving both pitchers a couple of inches off the plate outside to right-handed hitters and Anderson certainly benefitted from that some.
But the biggest thing for me was that Anderson constantly was able to get ahead of hitters. In fact, he did so against 18 of the 21 hitters he faced.
The Yankees are a team that loves to take pitches and work deep counts, and Anderson didn’t let that happen.
He was aggressive in the zone and forced the Yankees to swing the bat early in counts, which I love to see.
Atlanta Braves Ian Anderson — The Makeup
I’ve said for a while now that the biggest issue with a lot of these top pitching prospects for the Braves is between the ears.
They all have the talent, but for whatever reason they overthink things once they get to the big leagues and don’t let their talent play out.
That wasn’t the case for Anderson on Wednesday. He walked out on that mound like he belonged and had fun doing it.
As fans, that’s the part of a player’s game we don’t always get to see unless you’re lucky to catch a couple of outings of them in the minors.
But even then, you never know how that’s going to translate to the big leagues for a player.
Anderson passed that test with flying colors on Wednesday.
Atlanta Braves Ian Anderson — What to Expect Going Forward
So should we expect him to flirt with a no-hitter every time he goes out now?
No, definitely not.
The league will adjust to him at some point. As I said, with just a three-pitch mix hitters will start to figure him out a bit.
And when you’re only throwing three pitches, you have to make sure all of those are working when you take the mound as they were for Anderson on Wednesday.
If you don’t have the feel for one of those during a start, then it becomes a lot easier for a hitter to just sit on one pitch.
His minor league numbers suggest he’ll be a number two or three starter in the big leagues. Someone that will give you plenty of quality starts, which is exactly what the Braves need right now.
It is just one start, but I feel pretty confident in saying that Anderson is here to stay and we can expect him to continue to give the Braves quality starts every five days.