Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers ’17 — #57 Chase Anderson
Back for the second installment in this year’s “Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers” series.
Today on Super Bowl Sunday we find ourselves 57 days away from Opening Day on Monday, April 3, 2017. So let’s talk about new-in-2016 Brewer and rotation stalwart…
Robert Chase Anderson, 29, came to the Milwaukee Brewers in a January trade just over a year ago. The Brewers sent Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner to the Arizona Diamondbacks in return for Anderson, infielder Aaron Hill and minor leaguer Isan Diaz.
Originally a 9th round pick by Arizona back in 2009, Anderson broke into the big leagues after just under five years from his signing date following a steady rise through the D’backs system.
Anderson began the year ostensibly as the team’s 5th starter and had a season roughly in line with those expectations. A 4.39 ERA in 151.2 innings pitched along with his other peripherals ended up compiling into a 97 ERA+, or just below league average. In one more inning in 2015, Anderson worked to a 96 ERA+, for comparison’s sake.
Of bigger concern from a Brewers perspective are those aforementioned peripherals.
For example, Anderson’s FIP was 5.09 suggesting that similar execution in 2017 could easily result in worse final numbers. Two of the drivers of FIP are home runs and walks. Anderson gave up 10 more long balls in 2016 than 2015 and his walks increased by a total of 13 from 40 to 53.
Throughout the season, Anderson said a lot of the right things in regards to identifying the issues, trusting the process, and overcoming the obstacles. And, for what it’s worth, Anderson finished the year incredibly strongly.
In five starts after the calendar turned to September, Anderson tossed 27.1 IP and posted an ERA of 1.98. Opponents slugged just .414 against Anderson in those starts, his best month of the season by 25 points.
There is definitely more competition for rotation spots this year. Jimmy Nelson and Matt Garza will almost certainly once again open the 2017 campaign in the rotation and the emergence of Zach Davies and Junior Guerra, along with the 2nd half return-to-form by Wily Peralta, really make things tight.
Whether Anderson begins the season in the rotation will depend on how real his gains in performance from September prove to be. Anderson could probably fill a long relief role as well, or find himself starting in Colorado Springs as a member of the next line if Taylor Jungmann, Tommy Milone, or even Josh Hader or Jorge Lopez perform better this spring.
Time will tell, but so far in his career Anderson has proven to be a consistent performer of whom you roughly know what to expect over the long haul. Getting more of September throughout the year would do great things for his long-term outlook with the Brewers though.
For now, my too-early prediction is that Anderson ends up using his last remaining minor league option and, despite his forthcoming arbited raise due his to Super 2 status, begins the year starting in Colorado Springs much like Zach Davies did in 2016.
To put in another way, I think Anderson certainly starts some games for the Brewers in 2017, I just don’t think he’ll make another 30 of them again this year.
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Follow Chase on Twitter: @ChaseAnderson87
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