Norfolk's Anderson Named IL Pitcher of the Week

[ScottieBaseball]

Norfolk's Craig Anderson was named the International League Pitcher of the Week for July 9th through July 15th.

Click here (http://www.orioleshangout.com/article.asp?ID=1095) for the whole story. Enjoy!!!

[bobmc]

Sounds interesting - a southpaw. Has anyone seen him or read reports. Shall we get excited?

[NewMarketSean]

Looks like he's got good control based on his K/BB ratio. The age is a bit of concern, but heck, after Guthrie, that's out of the window. Could he be a decent LHP arm in the bullpen if Walker is traded?

[Leitch]

Looking at his record, sure doesn't seem like he's got much in the stuff department.

Be wary of minor league pitchers with good K:BB ratios and ugly home run rates.

And just because Guthrie has had a sweet half season doesn't mean that age is no longer a factor in evaluating a player

[justD]

Craig Anderson has been with us for a couple years now. Signed out of Australia during the 2005/2006 offseason, I believe, assigned to Bowie. Was with the Baysox half the season, got promoted to Ottawa, ended up down in Frederick. A really nice guy, it was great to see him end up in AAA again this season.

The thing about him that I find amazing is that he's able to be as effective as he is with his fastball topping out at 83-84. One game, I went up to Beau Hale (who was doing pitch-charting duty) and asked if the stadium gun was working correctly, because his fastball was only registering 79-83 or so tops, usually 80-81. And yet, he was getting the guys out. There is a decent differential between that and his breaking ball tho - if I remember it's like 15 mph even at this slow speed, at around 66-67.

Just my two cents. :)

[NewMarketSean]

Looking at his record, sure doesn't seem like he's got much in the stuff department.

Since when has W-L record had anything to do with determining a pitcher, especially a minor league one?


Be wary of minor league pitchers with good K:BB ratios and ugly home run rates.

And just because Guthrie has had a sweet half season doesn't mean that age is no longer a factor in evaluating a player

Oh I definitely agree the jury is still out on Guthrie... but it at least will make me wonder about age when a MiL pitcher is suddenly pitching very well.

[Leitch]

Since when has W-L record had anything to do with determining a pitcher, especially a minor league one?

Definitely not talking about W-L record. I meant his peripherals. Strikeout/walk rates decent, home run rates are ugly. Says to me, "this guy is throwing strikes and fooling minor league hitters", not "this guy has the out pitches necessary to succeed in the bigs".


Oh I definitely agree the jury is still out on Guthrie... but it at least will make me wonder about age when a MiL pitcher is suddenly pitching very well.

I would chalk a good hunk of his(Anderson's) sudden improvement to moving from PCL(extreme hitter's environment) to IL(extreme pitcher's environment).

[BowieMike]

Anderson's one of those pitchers that I always enjoy watching. He is not a guy who's going to overpower you but the way he attacks hitters with breaking balls that dip into the mid 60's is always interesting to watch.

I went back into some old notes from right before Anderson was promoted and I found this snippet from Scott McGregor, just so you can see it straight from the expert:

“He’s the kind of guy that keeps you off balance, he throws below the hitting speed."