Whatever Happened to... Matt Anderson

What I'm going to do in this segment is talk about players who for various reasons never lived up to their potential. I'll be focusing on players from the early 90's to present day, some who still have some chance to rebound and some who have been out of baseball for awhile. If you have any requests for a particular player then please tell me.

Before the 1998 season the Detroit Tigers had two promising young relief pitchers who practically every pundit and expert agreed would become successful closers... Francisco Cordero and Matt Anderson.

Cordero in 1999 posted a breakout year in AA, striking out 58 batters in 52 1/3 innings pitched with a 1.38 ERA in the process. He then proceeded to pitch respectably in a middle relief role at the end of 1999 for Detroit still striking out a batter an inning and keeping his ERA in the lower half of the 3's. His only sign of weakness was he was walking almost as many as he struck out while in the majors, but in the minors his WHIP was 1.09 showing that he had some potential to conquer his walk problems in the future.

Matt Anderson had a breath-taking 1st pro season in 1998 zooming up through high A to the majors in one season. In the minors he posted ERA's of 0.69 in the Florida State League and 0.60 in AA. He combined for 45 strikeouts in 41 innings in the two minor league levels he played at, and posted WHIPs equal to or less then 1.00 in both of his stops. In the majors he showed everybody what his potential was by striking out a batter an inning in his 44 IP and keeping his ERA down at 3.27. His only sign of problems was his walk totals as he did walk 31 batters in the process. Regardless though Anderson looked like the real deal coming off of 1998.

Anderson's 1999 wasn't so encouraging. Like Cordero he split his time between the majors in the minors, in his case AAA in the minors. Also like Anderson he posted quality strike out numbers 35 strike outs in 38 innings in AAA and 32 strikeouts in 38 innings in the majors. Just like Francisco Cordero, Anderson had trouble with his walks in the majors walking 35 batters, 3 walks more then his strikeout totals. Unlike Cordero, Anderson had problems walking batters in the minors also, walking 31 batters and ruining his WHIP (1.66 in minors, 1.79 in majors) in the process.

Before 2000 started the Tigers decided to improve their offense by acquiring slugger Juan Gonzalez. However to do this Texas demanded one of their closing prospects. Eventually they hammered out a deal sending Francisco Cordero to the Rangers. After two learning years Cordero lived up to his expectations by becoming a very important part of the Rangers bullpen in 2002 and becoming the full time Ranger closer in 2003 after the trade of Ugueth Urbina.

Unfortunately for Detroit Matt Anderson did not live up to his expectations. Despite having the more dominant "stuff" of the two closers and being the first overall pick of the 1997 draft, Anderson never really learned to put movement behind his 101 mph fastball and his numbers would never show the promise of his extraordinary pro rookie season.

In 2000, Anderson stayed in the majors from start to finish as a middle reliever. He posted adequate numbers all around (4.72 ERA, 8.60 K/9, 1.43 WHIP) which was definitely an improvement from the 1999 season. He still walked too much as 45 walks in 74 1/3 innings pitched is not that great, but still it was very encouraging for the Tigers. It was so encouraging that they decided to take a chance on him in 2001 to be their closer.

2001 came around and looking on the outside it looked like Matt Anderson had successful tore off his closer of the future label and became a full fledged closer. Sure his 22 saves look good on the outside... sure he finally lowered his walk rate to an acceptable total (2.89/9 innings)... and sure he kept his strikeout rate high (8.36/9 innings). Pretty much Anderson looked like he was well on his way of being the next Billy Wagner. Unfortunately a new problem had come on the scene. A new problem that kept his ERA up at 4.82 and would gradually get worse in worse. The new problem was that Anderson had begun to get hittable to the rate of a hit per inning. Yes he still had his 101 mph fastball, but it still had no movement. When he came up hitters just couldn't catch up with it that often, but now that he had been up for four years that fastball just wasn't that surprising to the hitters. Even worse his hard breaking ball that he always had still wasn't staying in the strikezone enough so he had to rely on his heater. Nevertheless everyone assumed Anderson was on the right track and would become a dominant closer.

Then came the year it all broke down, 2002. Anderson suffered a shoulder injury early in the year that limited him to 12 miserable innings. By 2003 he was still expected to be Detroit's closer but a number of changes had happened all because of a new arm angle he took up to reduce stress in his throwing shoulder. First of all his 101 mph heater was gone, and in its place was a much more pedestrian mid-90's version. Second of all his new arm angle made it even tougher for him to put movement behind his fastball, so all he had was a straight 94 mph fastball which is very hittable in the major leagues. His stats show this as out as his hits per 9 innings soared to 9.64/9 innings in the majors and 11.84/9 innings in AA. In the major leagues he just couldn't strike out players the way he used to as his rate plunged to 5.01/9 innings.

By 2004, at 27 years old when most players are just reaching their primes, Matt Anderson looked like he was all washed up. He suffered more injuries and stayed in the minors all year and unfortunately for him was just as hittable as he was in 2003. After 2004 he became a FA and signed with the Colorado Rockies.

Amazingly last year Anderson began pitching decent in the minors. His strikeout totals climbed back to 8.81/9 innings and he kept batters to less then 7 hits/9 innings, even his walks weren't that bad at 4.02/9 innings. All of those were very encouraging signs. His ERA was alright at 4.21 and his WHIP was great for him at 1.21. Even more encouraging is that he did all of this in Colorado Springs one of the best hitting ballparks in minor league baseball. In midseason he began to get some press as a possible closing candidate for Colorado and the Rockies subsequently brought him up. Unfortunately he failed miserably in the ten innings he pitched at Colorado giving up 17 earned runs off of 19 hits and 11 walks which gave him a horrendous 3.00 WHIP.

What does the future hold for Matt Anderson. Well if 2005 was any indication he has begun to harness his new arm angle. Evidently his breaking ball has improved and he has developed some movement on his fastball which may allow him to become a decent relief pitcher. Sure he will probably never become a dominant closer nor will he ever live up to his draft status, but he can still have a respectable career in the major leagues.