BSN Exclusive: Tyler Anderson prescribes a cure for what ails Rockies pitching

DENVER – In order to make it as a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball, you can’t just have extraordinary velocity, exquisite command, or uncommon poise.

In fact, all three combined will only get so far if they aren’t filtered through an intricate gameplan informed by an almost endless flow of data, years of coaching experience, and sometimes just good old fashioned gut feelings.

For a Colorado Rockies pitching staff that came into the season with a lot of expectations—and a lot of newly minted scouting reports on what they can do—the early going of 2018 has been a tale of inconsistencies. Whether it be from start-to-start, or at times inning-to-inning, they found themselves specifically falling apart third time through the batting order until returning home for the current road trip when they’ve been bitten by the first-inning bug.

Left-hander Tyler Anderson has experienced a bit of all of this, beginning the season with an ugly outing in Arizona, surviving a six-walk performance in Washington and then giving up a two-run first-inning double to Wilson Contreras in his last appearance before getting himself back on track.

He tells BSN Denver that, no matter the results, you can’t fear contact or things will only get worse.

“You gotta force them to put the ball in play,” he said. “Just keep doing it, eventually they’re gonna hit it at guys. They found a lot of holes this series, especially early in games, but we just gotta keep going.”

Anderson has been known throughout his minor league career, and in his first taste of MLB, for exceptional command. He brought a 2.46 BB/9 rate coming into 2018 but has seen that number balloon to 5.04 in his first five starts of the season, an admittedly small sample size.

“I feel like it’s been hit or miss,” he says. “Sometimes, I’ve been falling behind and some of those counts, you don’t want to make your misses down the middle. And some days some things have been just a little off. But I still feel pretty good, still think when I throw the ball, I know where it’s gonna go. I’m good with that. Command is just one of those things that as you build up your innings you get better feel and timing and sometimes adrenaline can kinda amp you up a little bit. Sometimes, you’re just off a hair.”

They say that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports. But pitching ain’t exactly a walk in the park.

“It’s not like it’s a huge strike zone, either, so some of those misses are not too far off,” Anderson reminds us. “It’s just one of those things where as your timing gets better, your command gets better, too.”

Other than Chad Bettis, nobody in the Rockies rotation has put together a string of solid starts. And they know that. They also know that it is unlikely to continue.

“I think we’re OK,” Anderson said. “We’ve just gotten hit early. Sometimes, it’s easy to go out there and feel like you’re saving some energy for a long start. But we’re at a place right now where we have to come out and swing early. Go out and throw some punches early so that we’re ready to go. You compete in the strike zone, you’re going to be OK.”

None of the Rockies pitchers have looked like themselves early this season. Even Bettis’ positive results were better than what we had seen previously. And the marathon nature of the game suggests much of that will balance out. Anderson will find his signature command. German Marquez will pitch in some normal games without either snow or flaring emotions. Kyle Freeland already looks like he has regained some confidence that he can dominate in his hometown after Tuesday’s impressive outing.

And then, of course, there’s Jon Gray, whose extraordinary talent has been hiding behind a mental barrier so far. Though, it may be emerging now after his phenomenal performance against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

But if they follow the lead of their lefties and get back to aggressively filling up the strike zone, the Rockies will be who we thought they were: a postseason team who wins on the strength of their pitching.