Tigers Hope Drew Anderson's KBO Success Leads to MLB Breakthrough
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It has been four long years since Drew Anderson has taken the mound for an MLB team, as the last time he suited up in a ball game in the Majors was with the Rangers back in 2021, despite suiting up for Triple-A Toledo in 2024.
However, he never received the call up by the Detroit Tigers and has been primarily pitching in both Korea and Japan the last few years. Anderson might not have joined the roster in 2024, but the Tigers have been keeping a watchful eye on him and the success he has been having as a starter.
It seems that as soon as he took on the work load of a starter rather than a reliever he found his calling. After back-to-back respectable seasons the Tigers and Anderson came to a one-year agreement, pending a physical, first reported on by Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic on X (formerly Twitter).
Anderson in Korea
Anderson might have started 2024 inside the Tigers' farming system, but it only lasted 14 innings as he departed for Korea's SSG Landers, where he has been ever since. Even though he had primarily been used out of the bullpen in his career (at least in the Majors), he was thrown in as a starter and never looked back.
This last season was easily his best.
- 30 Starts
- 2.25 ERA
- 245 Strikeouts
- 3.8 WAR
- 1.00 WHIP
- 12.8 Strikeouts per 9
Anderson's Professional History
The 31-year-old's career started back in 2012 when the Philadelphia Phillies drafted him in the 21st round and it wasn't until five years later that he took the mound in a Major League game (out of the bullpen), but to say it didn't go well would be an understatement.
There wasn't much hope surrounding Anderson's career until his time with the Rangers, but he was only used in nine games as a reliever. It isn't necessarily fair to look at the pitcher he was as he is an entirely different player now and his stats prove that.
The Tigers have been looking for another arm to complement both Casey Mize and Jack Flaherty as Tarik Skubal will forever the lead charge. It is never a guarantee how a player will transition from another league to the majors, but it appears that Anderson is continuing to get better making this a solid move for the Tigers, but only time will tell.
The Tigers expect Drew Anderson to be a starter, per sources https://t.co/jM4umEdpwV
— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) December 5, 2025
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.