Toronto Blue Jays 2020 Report Cards: Chase Anderson

Jays Journal contributors will be authoring Toronto Blue Jays report cards based on how each player performed in 2020. In this edition, we take a look at Chase Anderson

Chase Anderson was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers for a heavy hitting prospect in Chad Spanberger.

At the time, this move was a little puzzling because the Jays were still viewed as a rebuilding team and they gave up a future asset to acquire a ‘right now’ player.

Before the season started, Anderson was sidelined with an oblique injury which forced the Blue Jays to seek other internal options for the rotation. As he wasn’t able to go through a proper rehab assignment due to the cancellation of the minor league season, Anderson was limited in regards to how many innings he could throw when he returned.

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In total, he threw 33.2 innings over 10 games (seven starts) where he posted a 7.22 ERA with an opponents average of .315.

Anderson’s arsenal

According to Basebaball Savant, Anderson threw five different kinds of pitches throughout the season. A fastball (34.4%), changeup (23.5%), cutter (20.1%), curveball (16.1%) and a sinker (6%). He used them pretty evenly, although he used his changeup mostly against lefties and his cutter mostly against righties. His curveball was also used against righties more often as well.

He struggled with throwing his fastball, which averaged 92 MPH as he gave up hits at a .386 clip with an .895 slugging percentage.

His most effective pitch was his changeup as batters hit .235 off that pitch with a slugging percentage of .324. Despite a bloated opponent average of .315, he struck out batters at the highest rate of his career (24.7%).

Split stats

This season, Anderson pitched more often at home games where he fared better posting a 4.88 ERA in seven games while striking out 30 over 24 innings.

In five starts in the month of August, he posted a 3.20 ERA in 19.2 innings, but came crashing down in September (12.86 ERA)

He struggled with runners in scoring position as he gave up hits at a .379 clip and also struggled to get out of innings, as he had a difficult time pitching with two outs.

Grade

Anderson could have been hampered a bit by his oblique injury and the fact that he didn’t have a proper rehab assignment but regardless, he didn’t have a great season.

He started off well but came crashing down once September came around, which included giving up five home runs in an inning with three of them being back-to-back against the New York Yankees on September 17th.

The front office will soon have to decide whether they will pick up his $9.5 million team option for the 2021 season.

Final grade: D