Ian Anderson has pitched in elimination games before.
In his senior year of high school at Shenendehowa in 2016, he threw a complete-game shutout, with 8 strikeouts, in the state semifinal game against West Islip.
Sunday’s game is just a little bit different.
Heading into the season, nobody could have predicted Anderson would be starting the Braves’ biggest game of the season. After all, he hadn’t even thrown 25 innings at the AAA level before this year. However, the Braves rotation became absolutely decimated as the season progressed.
Felix Hernandez opted out before the season began. Cole Hamels threw just 3 and 1/3 innings before being shut down for the year. Mike Soroka tore his Achilles during his third start of the season. Mike Foltynewicz was DFA’d. The Braves were looking for any possible help, so they promoted the #3 pick in the 2016 draft, looking for some sort of life in their rotation behind Max Fried.
An Unlikely Hero
To be clear, the Braves organization thinks very highly of Anderson. He’s ranked as the #3 prospect in their organization, and the #34 prospect in all of baseball. However, not many people expected him to make such an impact so early.
The 22-year-old righthander started 6 games in the regular season, going 3-2 with a 1.96 ERA. With the current state of the Braves rotation, Anderson has become the #2 starter throughout this postseason. But make no mistake, he has earned his role.
Like I mentioned earlier, the stakes are certainly much different here than they were in the New York high school playoffs. However, since the postseason has begun, Anderson has sure looked like he’s facing high school lineups.
Postseason Dominance
In 3 starts this postseason, Anderson has thrown 15.2 innings without allowing a single run. He’s struck out 22 batters in that span, and the Braves have won all 3 of his starts. This includes the clinching game of the Wild Card round, Game 2 of the NLDS, and Game 2 of this Championship Series against the Dodgers.
Here’s a fun stat:
The emergence of his devastating changeup, with the deceiving over-the-top delivery, has been the key for Anderson’s success since he arrived in the majors. Couple that with a well-controlled fastball and a big curveball, and he has had no trouble carving up batters.
Keys to Success
As previously mentioned, Anderson started Game 2 of this NLCS, throwing 4 scoreless innings. However, command was a bit of an issue, as he walked five batters. He also struck out five, but threw 85 pitches.
In order to beat the Dodgers, with possibly the most talented lineup in baseball, Anderson’s command will be key. He will need to get ahead of batters, in order to set up that monster changeup.
This season, the Dodgers hit .284 when ahead in the count, and .204 when behind. This isn’t an uncommon trend by any means, but when the L.A. lineup boasts hitters such as Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, and the unbelievably hot Corey Seager, there isn’t much room for mistakes.
Long Time Coming
This is the closest Atlanta has come to reaching the World Series since they were swept by the Yankees there in 1999. Their last NLCS appearance before this season was 2001, when they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games.
This will be the biggest start of Ian Anderson’s career so far, and it will be the biggest game for the Braves in a long while.
But if his previous starts this postseason have told us anything, it’s this: Anderson will not be intimidated by the situation.