The Atlanta Braves made some big transactional moves on Sunday, including the demotion of starting pitcher Ian Anderson after another frustrating start.
Ian Anderson has done a lot of great things for the Atlanta Braves in his brief career, but 2022 has been quite the struggle.
And after another bad outing on Friday — combined with some other factors — Ian Anderson was optioned to Triple-A Sunday morning.
The #Braves today recalled RHP Huascar Ynoa to Atlanta, selected C Chadwick Tromp to the major league roster, and optioned RHP Ian Anderson and OF Guillermo Heredia to Triple-A Gwinnett.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 7, 2022
This year, Ian Anderson has a 5.11 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 105.2 innings (21 starts) with 93 strikeouts and 53 walks.
He’s always had issues with command, but his 11.3% walk rate would be the highest of his young career and rank among the worst in baseball.
His change-up is still one of the best in the league and batters are hitting just .210 against that pitch, but as the league becomes more familiar with him, they are spitting on that change-up, which he rarely throws in the strike zone and sitting on his flat fastball hitting .310 against that pitch.
Keep in mind that Anderson is still just 24 years old — this is not the end of the road for him.
In fact, Brian Snitker said the plan is for him to start in next weekend’s double-header against the Marlins before going to Gwinnett.
But there are definitely some things the youngster needs to work on before proving he deserves a spot in the Braves rotation.
Finding a third pitch that he can trust, commanding that fastball at the top of the zone, and being able to throw the change-up for strikes more often to get ahead.
It’s hard to make those adjustments in the middle of the season for a team with championship aspirations.
Hopefully, once he does get down to Gwinnett he can start making those adjustments. And then when he comes back up he’s even better pitcher than we’ve seen him be in the past.