The rookie starter was expected to be the savior. He isn't that, but he's still on his way to being really good.
Through three starts with the Seattle Mariners, rookie starting pitcher Kade Anderson has shown a lot.
He's also, hopefully, learned a lot too.
After posting a 1.06 ERA at Double-A Arkansas and representing the M's in the MLB Futures Game, Mariners fans expected him to come up and be the savior of a fledgling season.
He's been fine, but he hasn't been that. He gave up three earned runs in 4.2 innings against the Chicago Cubs in his debut, and didn't make it out of the fifth against the Toronto Blue Jays in his second start. He gave up four earned runs over five innings in Thursday's really tough loss against a bad Athletics team.
With the Mariners leading 3-2 in the fifth, he got the first two outs before a walk, a single and a stolen base. Both runners scored on a single by Lawrence Butler that gave the A's a lead they'd never relinquish.
I talked a lot about Anderson on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, and here are the two big takeaways:
1) His pitch mix is really good
The pitch mix is really effective. I am a sucker for a good pitcher, and Kade Anderson is a good pitcher, not just a thrower, right? The guys who can get away with 100 down the middle, a lot of them, some of them, are throwers. A lot of relievers are throwers. Now, they have a bigger margin for error, but they're not pitchers. And while it's fun to watch a guy pipe fastball after fastball at 100, it's also fun to watch a guy who understands the strike zone, who understands sequencing, who knows who he is, and who works to that.
Kade Anderson, we've seen him fastball-changeup mostly against the Cubs. We saw him fastball-slider a lot of the time against the Blue Jays. And we saw him fastball-curveball a lot in this game. He's unpredictable. He has four pitches he can throw for a strike. He has the ability to throw a lot of strikes. He just needs to get those pitches on the edges more, or get it in a position for you to chase and get yourself out.
2) He needs to understand who he is
Anderson has the mindset to challenge guys, and frankly, he's used to winning those challenges at LSU and in the Texas League. You can't win those challenges as easily at the big league level, especially when you only throw 93-95 mph as Anderson does. He's not afraid to go after guys, but he lived too much in the middle of the plate on Thursday, and he paid for it.
Take this at-bat to Butler, for instance. Anderson got down 2-1 in the count, and the pitch that Butler hit was basically belt high. That's a very hittable pitch at his velocity. He needs to work the edges more and work down more, and he needs to allow the hitters to get themselves out more. Throwing strikes is good, but he also needs to throw quality strikes. His velocity isn't good enough to make mistakes like this.
I trust he will come back next season with a better understanding of how his stuff plays in the big leagues, and he might come in with better velocity too which allows him a better margin for error.
Furthermore, Anderson committed three Cardinal sins in this loss: He walked a leadoff guy in the second and that runner came around to score. He issued the two-out, nobody on walk in the fifth, and he came around to score. And he gave up a hit on 0-2.
None of these can happen. All of those things will be learned from.
Just because Anderson isn't the savior of this team doesn't mean that he won't be really good in the future. I fully trust that he will be.
Of note
The latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.
