Spotlight on
Craig Anderson
It was the All-Star Futures Game, and excitement was in the air.
Some of the most talented players from all levels in the minor leagues
were invited to play at Atlanta's Turner Field. One of those players
was Seattle Mariner's pitching prospect, Craig Anderson, who was barely
one year removed from his minor league debut with the Northwest League
Everett AquaSox.
Craig Anderson says, " That
was one of the most memorable games in my career. They treated us like
major leaguers. We got to play in a major league park, and it was
like they were giving us an incentive to become major league
players." This season, Craig Anderson has plenty of incentives to
persue his dream of becoming a major leaguer. Players in the
Midwest League are developing a growing respect and fear for the left
handed, 6 foot 2 pitcher that wears the number 7, and helps put the rattle
in the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.
Only 19 years
old, Craig Anderson is showing that he already has the ability tothrow 4
different pitches for strikes, a devastating curve ball, fastball,
slider. These
pitches are baffling opponents, causing them to hit
a minuscule .268 against this left-handed pitcher, who relies more on
finesse than power. In addition to holding opponents to a paltry
batting average, he has also posted some pretty impressive numbers in the
Midwest League, with an outstanding 11-6 record for 103 strikeouts in 129
innings, and a respectable 3.82 ERA. With those fabulous numbers, it looks
like he could be on his way to the brand new Safeco Field in a couple of
years, helping an already young, deep, and talented Mariner's staff.
This success is nothing new to Craig Anderson
though. Before coming toAmerica, he had success playing in the
Australian Baseball League. With the
Sydney Storm, he really
caused opponents to be confused by keeping them off balance with his
pitches that he cleverly mixes up. With a 5-4 record, a
2.36
ERA, and 45 strikeouts in 68.2 innings, he gave opponents hardly anything
to hit, holding them to a .235 average. In the playoffs, he also was
a key contributor to the Storm march towards a championship. In his one
start in a playoff game, he held the Adelaide Saints to only one
earned run. All of this was accomplished by Craig at the young age
of 17 years old, which shows that he still has a lot of room and
time to improve.
When Craig Anderson
came to America last season to start his climb up the minor league ladder,
he was the fifth starter for the short season class A Everett
AqauSox. Anderson says, " I was nervous my first game pitching for
the AquaSox, and I gave up about 3 runs in five innings." After that
steady start, 18-year-old Anderson went on to terrorize the Northwest
League for the rest of the season. Craig put up almost unheard of
numbers for a short season league, with a near perfect record of
10-2. All you had to do to find out how Anderson was doing last
season was look at top of a Northwest League pitching leaders stats sheet
to know how dominate he was. He led the league in victories,
complete games (2), shutouts, innings pitched (90), and was third in the
league in ERA, and strikeouts. He also rewrote the AquaSox record
book, with his 10 wins being the second most in Everett's rich history of
baseball players.
Going into his second professional season, Anderson
is taken giant leaps towards the major leagues. Working diligently
with pitching coach Eric Chavez, Anderson is trying to improve his game
including mechanics and other important parts of pitching. Craig
says, " Eric Chavez has really helped improve my game. He has really
worked with me on my mechanics, which is the
part of the game I need
to improve on the most." Craig also checks the scouting reports on
batters before each game, studies their strengths and weaknesses, and
tries to use this information to his advantage. Before
games, he
also warms up, works on things with the pitching coach, and also listens
to music to try to relax before he dominates batters. On the mound,
he has a quiet, competitive demeanor, with four pitches he mixes up to get
players to strike out, popup, or flyout, and then they quickly become
spectators of the game, instead of on base. He has shown signs of
things to come by twice this season striking out 10 batters.
Craig Anderson is one of the top pitchers in the
abundantly talentedMariner's system. It may be his athletic
background and work ethic that has helped him become a success, playing
against some of world's best baseball players in the minors. Also,
studying and modeling his game after two elite pitchers in the major
leagues, Greg Maddux and Jamie Moyer, has helped
Anderson become the
player he is now. All of these things are the reasons he will
someday be playing in a major league uniform.
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