The Reds’ original minor league deal with Chase Anderson last month did not contain an invite to Major League spring training, but Cincinnati announced today that he’s now been added to big league camp. Furthermore, manager David Bell tells Reds beat writers that Anderson is in the mix for a spot in the big league bullpen or rotation (Twitter link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com).
Anderson, 35, spent part of the 2022 season in the Reds organization as well, though he was hit hard in 24 innings, yielding 17 runs on 17 hits and 15 walks. He fanned 23 of 103 opponents (22.3%) but posted the worst walk rate of his career as well (14.6%). Anderson was also with the Triple-A affiliates for the Rays and Tigers in 2022, logging a combined 4.50 ERA in 80 innings.
The past three seasons, in general, have been a struggle for Anderson — at least at the MLB level. However, from 2014-19 he was a solid mid-rotation hurler, pitching to a combined 3.94 ERA in 857 innings between the D-backs and the Brewers.
The Reds have traded away most of their established pitchers in recent seasons and are now left with a staff short on experience. The rotation figures to be fronted by three young hurlers who just debuted last year in Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft. The favorites for the final two spots are Luis Cessa and Luke Weaver. The former has primarily been a reliever in the majors and only recently made the switch to the rotation, while the latter has been a starter but struggled so much that he got bumped to a bullpen role last year.
In the bullpen, Tejay Antone and Tony Santillan seem slated to being the season on the injured list, potentially opening up a couple of spots back there. Anderson has been more of a starter than a reliever but could potentially help the Reds out by providing a veteran presence for either role.
Looking forward to Chase holding a MLBTR player chat next year.
There’s a good chance he’ll filter through Minnesota first.
It would be interesting to hear what he has to say, he’s been in different with different ball clubs so he’s definitely seasoned.
Those are some rough numbers last year, maybe the Reds saw something and gave him another shot to be part of the major league roster.
Needs to convert into a reliever at this point
That only happens in the playoffs. When the last drop is squeezed, there’s nothing left.
It’s going to be a long year. So ready for this rebuild to be over in 2050.
Help is on the way-provided they don’t jerk the youngsters around ala Nick Senzel
besides the stupid service time manipulation how did they mess with Senzel? he changed positions like millions before him
Senzel was provided close to zero adjustment period, being asked to learn a new position and adapt to the pace of major league baseball simultaneously. IMO, this is one of the surest ways to ruin a player’s development.
“The past three seasons, in general, have been a struggle for Anderson…”
Why interrupt the flow of your sentence when you could have just started the sentence with “in general,” saving you a comma?
If I had a nickel for every time Steve Adams throws in an unnecessary comma, I could buy out this site and buy him a style guide.
Thanks for your valuable input.
@Ben3,
Thank you for policing our grammar jay walkers. Most educated gripe I’ve ever read on this forum.
Why? They want the fans in the seats to get more baseballs?
I can easily ignore the extra comma but it’s the “struggle” I can’t get past. Anderson has been terrible the last three years. I sure hope a couple of the farmhands (Stoudt, Petty, Williamson) develop quickly.
He can get ya 4 losses but he can’t even get ya 4 wins lately.