Anderson, 32 in March, bounced around the major leagues a few years ago. He got brief looks in five straight seasons from 2017 to 2021, spending time with the Phillies, White Sox and Rangers. He posted a 6.50 earned run average in 44 1/3 innings across those five seasons.
He went overseas for the 2022 season, joining the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He had a pretty good run as a carp, getting a 3.05 over two seasons in Hiroshima. After that performance, he attempted to return to North America. The Tigers gave him a minor league deal in January 2024. He didn’t make the team out of camp and pitched for the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization in late April.
His first year in Korea went quite well. He threw 115 2/3 innings over 24 appearances with an ERA of 3.89. His 10.7% walk rate was a bit high, but he struck out 31.9% of batters and hit grounders on 45.8% of balls in play. The Landers re-signed him for 2025 and his performance this year was even better. He made 30 starts and logged 171 2/3 innings with a 2.25 ERA, 35.3% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 45.9% groundball rate.
In recent days, a handful of teams have signed deals with players returning from overseas stints. The Astros agreed to a one-year contract worth $2.6 million Ryan Weisswho had thrown in Korea. Antonius Kaijwho has been in Japan, got a two-year, $12 million deal from the White Sox. The Blue Jays made a big splash by agreeing to a three-year deal worth $30 million Cody Ponce.
Anderson’s numbers in 2025 were quite close to Ponce’s in a few areas. Ponce’s strikeout rate of 36.2% and walk rate of 5.9% were both slightly higher. His groundball percentage of 45.7% was just behind Anderson’s. Ponce posted an ERA of 1.89, slightly ahead of Anderson.
While the numbers may indicate a small gap between the two, the industry consensus is that Ponce is further ahead of Anderson based on his data. To illustrate this, extract this piece Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs Ponce was viewed as a #4 starter on a good team, who should make $20-25 million on a two-year contract, pretty close to what he ended up bringing in. Anderson, on the other hand, divided the two writers. Without naming names, they say one of them thought Anderson could be a decent back-end guy, while the other thought he would probably end up as a reliever.
It’s still unknown how much the Tigers will spend, but they’re betting that Anderson can hack it as a big-league starter. Detroit’s rotation will be led by Pull Skubalof Reese Olson, Casey Mize And Jack Flaherty behind him. Anderson will likely be competing for the #5 spot in spring training alongside guys like Keider Montero, Troy Melton, Ty Madden And Sawyer Gipson-Long. The Tigers have been linked to free agents such as Zac Gallen, Ranger Suarez And Michael Kingso it’s possible they’ll change the photo between now and when camp opens.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
#Tigers #sign #Drew #Anderson