Pittsburgh Pirates: Tyler Anderson May Have Made Final Start

Left-handed starting pitcher Tyler Anderson may have just made his last start as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates as he could be traded very soon

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Tyler Anderson on February 17, 2021, to help round out the starting rotation. So far, he’s been a durable and reliable back of the rotation type starter, which should get some bites on the trade market. With the trade deadline approaching fast, the lefty may have just made his last start as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates’.

Anderson took the hill in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday, but the start may have just been his final outing in a Pirates uniform. If it does end up being his last outing as a Bucco, it was quite a solid one. He went 5 innings, only allowing 2 earned runs, no walks, and striking out two. He even went deep off of Marcus Stroman who came into the day with a .86 HR/9 rate, the 18th best in the league.

After that start, Anderson lowered his ERA to 4.35 while keeping his FIP and WHIP at almost identical 4.42 and 1.19 marks. However, he got his walk rate below 6%, getting it to 5.9%. The southpaw did give up a home run, which made his HR/9 rate rise to 1.48. Despite his strikeout rate dipping below 20%, he still maintains a strong 3.3 K/BB ratio.

Anderson’s ERA estimators reflect a similar story. He has a 4.44 xFIP, 4.46 SIERA, and 4.39 xERA. DRA is the least favorable of his stats with a 5.03 mark. Though he’s well outperforming his expected stats like xBA (.264), xSLG (.450), and xwOBA (.330), he’s still above average in terms of exit velocity (88.3 MPH) and hard-hit rate (36.9%).

The lefty’s bottom-line numbers would look a lot better had it not been for two blow-up starts where he surrendered 15 earned runs in 15 innings. Outside of these two starts and 15 innings, Anderson has a solid 3.50 ERA and 4.14 FIP which is more akin to a 4th starter and even a low-end 3 starter.

He’s also gone at least 5 innings in all of his outings this year. In just three of his outings, he has surrendered more than 3 earned runs, showing he’s keeping his team in the game quite often. Although he’s not providing ace-like production, he’s been beyond serviceable so far this season.

Overall, Anderson should get some bites at the trade deadline. He’s consistently been able to go 5 innings and give his team a chance to win the ballgame. There will be some teams that will find that valuable, especially ones who already have an already established 3-4 starting pitchers looking to round out their starting 5. If this so happens to be Anderson’s last start, he went out on a good note with 5 solid innings and even providing himself some run support.