Blue Jays: Pause a blessing in disguise for Chase Anderson

After a disastrous spring for Chase Anderson with his new Blue Jays teammates, MLB’s pause to deal with the Covid-19 virus may be a blessing in disguise for the veteran right-hander.

The fact that Major League Baseball has come to a standstill has left a lot of players, coaches, employees, and fans wondering what to do with their time. For one Blue Jay, the time off should provide a chance for a badly needed re-set.

Chase Anderson came over from the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade that took place near the beginning of the off-season, and he was acquired to help boost a starting rotation that needed a lot of help after the 2019 campaign. He was never supposed to be the big prize of the winter for the Blue Jays, but there was little doubt that he could help raise the floor of the rotation, and maybe even bring more to the table than that.

Unfortunately things got off to a very rocky start for Anderson during Grapefruit League play so far. Over just 9.1 innings, the veteran right-hander allowed 15 hits, 12 earned runs, including four home runs and seven walks issued. His spring ERA sit at 11.57 and his WHIP is 2.36. It’s a small sample size to be sure, but the early returns haven’t been great.

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In fact,  it’s gotten to the point where there were rumblings about whether he should be guaranteed a spot in the rotation with the other talent in camp, including by our own Clayton Richer.

Now that baseball is taking a hiatus, 32-year-old can use the time to re-set himself mentally, and maybe even work with the coaching staff to see if there is anything physically wrong with his delivery. The truth is, spring stats really don’t matter much at all, but you want to see better results than what Anderson was showing thus far, especially when they were just over two weeks away from Opening Day before everything changed. And with the Blue Jays sporting a talented rotation that also includes Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark, Matt Shoemaker, and talented youngsters like Trent Thornton, Anthony Kay, and eventually Nate Pearson, there will be pressure to perform, even as a veteran.

For what it’s worth, Anderson is a six-year MLB vet with a career 3.94 ERA and a WHIP of 1.236 over 160 starts and 857 innings pitched. As long as there’s nothing physically wrong with him, I’m confident that he’ll get things on track in time. Hopefully this break in action ends up being a blessing in disguise and he can start over on a more positive note when baseball resumes.