There was nothing particularly noteworthy about Tyler Anderson‘s final start of the 2017 Cactus League, other than it was his final start ahead of a regular season that will be filled with expectations. Anderson allowed two earned runs in three innings pitched in an eventual 10-5 Rockies victory over the Padres. With the victory, Anderson improved to 1-1 in the Cactus League and now shifts his focus to the National League.
“When season-time comes, which it’s here, [the goal] is to have good command and I think that’s where I’m at right now. So, I’ll take that,” Anderson said postgame.
He didn’t have his best command on Thursday, allowing three hits and a walk over his 38 pitches, but Anderson wasn’t concerned. This final outing, he suggested, was as much a working outing as it was a final tune-up.
“I think I was working on a pitch that I wanted to see results,” he said, “and I didn’t get it to the place I wanted to, so it was really hard to tell. But yeah, for the most part I think it was just a couple batters got away from me there.
“The only thing that was really bad about the day was, what you’d say, was the leadoff walk.”
Hunter Renfroe‘s leadoff walk in the second inning would come around to haunt Anderson after a Ryan Schimpf triple. Schimpf scored on a Hector Sanchez sacrifice fly.
Anderson will be one of the key pieces in Bud Black‘s rotation this year after a breakout 2016. The 27-year-old didn’t necessarily see the results of his solid season in the win-loss column, posting a 5-6 record. But the left-hander did lead Colorado starters with a 3.54 ERA over 114.1 innings pitched. Anderson posted quality starts in 12 of his 19 trips to the mound last year. His 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings were second only to Jon Gray, and his 3.84 strikeout-to-walks ratio was best among Colorado’s starters.
On Thursday, Black announced Jon Gray as his Opening Day starter on April 3 against Milwaukee, but did not set the rest of his rotation. Anderson figures to land in either the No. 2 or No. 3 spot in the rotation, along with right-hander Tyler Chatwood.