Detroit Tigers Take a Flier on Reliever Drew Anderson After His Stint in Japan
The Detroit Tigers have signed right-handed pitcher Drew Anderson to a minor league contract, MLive's Evan Woodbery reported Wednesday afternoon.
Anderson last appeared in MLB with the Texas Rangers in 2021. He spent the past two years with Nippon Professional Baseball's Hiroshima Carp over in Japan.
It remains to be seen if the Tigers will invite Anderson to Spring Training.
Anderson got his start with the Philadelphia Phillies, who selected the him in the 21st round of the 2012 MLB Draft. Despite missing the entire 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery, Anderson still thrived as a starting pitcher in the club's farm system before making his big league debut in 2017.
To that point in his career, Anderson was 24-17 with a 3.08 ERA and 1.165 WHIP in the minors.
Anderson allowed six earned runs in his first two MLB appearances, though, and he was only able to pitch 21.0 big league innings across three seasons in Philadelphia. His struggles followed him to Triple-A as well, as Anderson went 9-10 with a 4.47 ERA and 1.281 WHIP at that level between 2018 and 2019.
The Chicago White Sox picked up Anderson after the Phillies released him in 2019, only for the righty to give up six earned runs in his lone outing of 2020. Anderson put up far cleaner numbers with the Rangers in 2021, going 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA and 1.182 WHIP in nine games, but the converted reliever was still let go at the end of the year.
Anderson played the next two seasons with the Carp, going 9-7 with a 2.78 ERA and 1.086 WHIP out of the bullpen during his time overseas.
Now 29 years old, Anderson will try to spin that success into another shot at an MLB roster spot.
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