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Streaking Anderson showing how to succeed at Coors Field
- Updated: August 8, 2016
When looking at rookie Colorado lefty Tyler Anderson, one can’t help but be reminded of Clayton Kershaw. That’s wildly and completely unfair, of course. Kershaw is the greatest pitcher of a generation; Anderson has made all of 10 Major League starts, with his 11th coming on Monday night against Cole Hamels and the Rangers in the MLB.TV Free Game of the Day.
Still, consider it for a minute, as the Rockies bask in a run of shockingly successful starting pitching that’s kept them afloat in the Wild Card race. Anderson is a 6-foot-4 lefty who is currently atop the exit velocity leaderboards for starting pitchers, at 85.3 mph against. Kershaw is a 6-foot-4 lefty who last year finished a fraction of a mile per hour behind Jake Arrieta, also at 85.3 mph. And more to the point, they just look similar on the mound.
Compare the slight pause in Kershaw’s delivery to Anderson’s:
“I didn’t even realize I did it until college,” Anderson said about the hitch in his delivery after a game in New York at the end of July. “To me, I feel like I’m very smooth, so it’s kind of surprising to watch and say, ‘That looks funky.’ I do watch him and he does that, and Hector Santiago also does a little pause, so for me, I know those are guys that have similar timing, but obviously not similar stuff… [Kershaw] is unbelievable.”
Anderson is right, of course. The stuff is different, and he isn’t going to be Kershaw. (Probably.) But as Anderson heads into Monday night’s start, his 3.25 ERA is the lowest in Rockies history through a pitcher’s first 10 starts. How’s he managed that? We asked him.
1. He’s avoiding the danger zone of hard contact
“You always want to keep them off balance, keep hitters off balance,” Anderson noted, “so if you’re forcing weak contact, that’s a great thing to do.”
Though Anderson didn’t know he ranked so highly — in a sport where the average batted ball comes off the bat at 89.2 mph, he has allowed the lowest average of the 169 pitchers with at least 150 balls in play — he’s right. 2015’s best starters at limiting exit velo were Kershaw, Arrieta and Dallas Keuchel, otherwise known as “both Cy Young winners and baseball’s best pitcher.” Also included in the top 10 were Chris Sale and Noah Syndergaard; it’s …
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