On April 16th of 2022, Ian Anderson looked to be righting the ship. After a rough 1st start where he gave up 5 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks, Ian pitched 5.2 innings allowing only 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run. The following 5 starts were strong statistically, but were typical Ian starts with mounting pitch counts and plenty of walks. On May 27th, Ian would give up 4 runs in 5.2 innings on 100 pitches. The month of June, Ian imploded, putting up a combined 6.91 ERA in 28.2 innings. July started off well and things seem to be turning for Ian, but on the 24th, Ian imploded for 7 runs in 3 innings. Then he righted the ship…again. Then implosion again.

In mid-August, Ian was shipped to AAA to try and get right. It didn’t work and Ian spent the rest of the year with Gwinnett and was left off of the postseason roster.

In the beginning of spring training, we learned Ian had developed a new pitch and it was all the rave in camp. Unfortunately, the pitch didn’t pass the in-game test and Ian, once again, found himself back on the minor league side of things. His 2023 AAA debut was brutal, only lasting 0.2 innings, giving up 6 earned runs that weren’t fluky as most of the runs came off of 3 home runs.

After that, it was no surprise when this was announced:

I hope that this is just a bump in the road for Ian and not something that requires surgery, but I cannot help feeling like this is Brandon Beachy all over again, and that would really suck.

Wanna chat? Click the graphic below to enter “The Bar”