Dbacks-3 White Sox-3: Chase Anderson Pitches Well
The game ended in a tie thanks to bullpen meltdowns by Aaron Blair and Enrique Burgos, but the real story line that the Diamondbacks and fans can take away from this afternoon’s game at Camelback Ranch against the White Sox is the pitching performances early on by Chase Anderson, Will Locante, and Rubby De La Rosa.
Anderson looked awfully impressive tossing 2.2 scoreless innings allowing two hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
Spring Training is a great time to work on a pitch, and that is exactly what Anderson did during his outing according to MLB.com
He has always thrown a two-seam fastball, but it didn’t always finish where Anderson wanted it to last season. He is putting more pressure on his index finger as he delivers the ball which helped him.
While there are only two locks for the rotation currently: Josh Collmenter, and Jeremy Hellickson, Anderson probably is next up to earn a spot.
This is what General Manager Dave Stewart recently said about Anderson to azcentral.com:
“Chase Anderson won nine games for us last year; you have to strongly consider him as part of our rotation,” Stewart said. “When you look at those three guys, those have to be guys you strongly consider.”
Stewart is right. Anderson made 21 starts across 114 plus innings in the big leagues, and his 4.01 ERA doesn’t reflect how good his 2014 season was. He struggled late in the year, and it inflated his ERA.
Anderson is mainly a fly-ball pitcher, and he was plagued by the home run ball last season which hurt him. He is hoping that more two seamers help him have a higher GB%.
I think Anderson should be given a chance to be in the rotation again as a reward for what he did last season.
Locante looked really good again, and De La Rosa was impressive tossing three scoreless frames. The pitching has more than gotten the job done so far this spring, and the offense is doing just enough.
Obviously the bullpen can’t blow leads like today in the regular season, but both Burgos and Locante are still young.
Up Next: Tomorrow on the road against the Athletics-Trevor Cahill will make the start.