Tyler Anderson has been in this situation before.
His freshman class at Valley High School in Las Vegas was the inaugural baseball team for the school. When he went to Oregon for college in 2009, he was part of a program that was returning to varsity status after being just a club the past 27 years.
So coming in to help contribute and build a culture for a rebuilding Pirates team? Yeah, this is right up his alley.
“For me, I know the culture over here they want to create is a winning culture,” Anderson said in a Zoom call from Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. Wednesday. “I don’t think that had any involvement in them signing me, but for me, I love the idea because I’ve been through it a few times and it’s just fun. It’s a lot of guys that are searching for something, and it’s really easy to create an identity together. And it would be fun to go through that journey together with some guys and kind of create that, see what we can do.”
The Pirates officially announced their one-year deal with the southpaw Anderson Wednesday morning. Per a source, he will make $2.5 million this season.
Derek Shelton didn’t know about Anderson’s history of building programs before he signed with the team. What he was looking for was some stability in the rotation, and he likes Anderson’s four-pitch mix: Fastball, changeup, slider and curveball.
“Looking for stability, we did some research on the person and came back with really positive stuff,” Shelton said. “I had the opportunity to talk to him at length today so it’s nice to add him to the mix.”
Anderson is coming off a bounce back campaign in 2020 where he went 4-3 with a 4.37 ERA over 13 appearances with the Giants, 11 of which were starts. Four of those starts were shutouts where he pitched at least five innings, including a complete game.
Left knee inflammation limited him to just five starts in 2019. While the injury had bothered him at times in 2017 and 2018, it got significantly worse that year and he eventually needed surgery in June.
“At the time I was taking the mound in ‘19, it’s like you’re kind of walking out there not worried about pitching or getting outs,” Anderson said. “You’re kind of just walking out there worried about your health every day. You can barely walk. So just to be able to go out there and be healthy and take the mound, you just have freedom of mind, some clarity, and you can go out there and focus on the things you need to focus about, instead of worrying, like, ‘Can I walk back to the dugout after that?’ Or, ‘If this guy gets a base hit, can I back up a base?’ You can go out there and worry about executing.”
After the 2019 season he was claimed off waivers by the Giants, subsequently non-tendered and then signed a one-year deal to stay in San Francisco. Despite the respectable 2020 season, he was non-tendered again this winter.
He drew interest from a handful of teams, but was drawn to the Pirates.
“I really like the fit here and I like the league, and I’ve always liked the Pirates,” Anderson said. “I love PNC Park. I’ve always liked the city of Pittsburgh. So being here just sounded like a lot of fun to me.”
More from the first day of workouts at Pirate City
• To make room on the 40-man roster, Jose Soriano has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. The right-hander is recovering from Tommy John surgery last February. As a Rule 5 pick, he will need to spend the whole season with the Pirates are be offered back to the Angels.
• Anderson's old battery mate Tony Wolters is also in Pirate City, competing for the backup catcher job. The two were teammates with the Rockies from 2016-2019. Wolters was non-tendered this offseason and signed a minor league deal with the Pirates earlier this month.
"Really fun, a lot of energy," Anderson said about his old catcher. "Good guy to have around, just to kind of keep things light. So I think he’s a good brother there. Just a good guy. Everybody loves Tony the more they get to know him."
• After years of being in a rotation that consisted of almost exclusively right-handers, Steven Brault is excited to have another lefty around.
"Lefties are different," Brault said. "We’re just odd. Hopefully he’s another weirdo. Based on his delivery, I think he probably is sort of a weirdo."
Anderson doesn't think he's weird, but his delivery does have a hitch in it, even if he doesn't notice it:
"I feel like I used to watch Mark Mulder pitch when I was a kid, and my delivery is just as clean as his is or like very smooth, and it’s not at all," Anderson said.
• Brault's main goal this camp is the same as it has been the last five years: Fastball command. While he did cut down on his fastball usage last year, it is still an integral part to his pitch mix.
He's also going to keep track of his first pitch strikes this spring. Not just in games, but in live batting practices and bullpens, too.
"That’s going to be the main thing for me is trying to get ahead of hitters and increase that percentage because I don’t think it was high enough last year," Brault said.
• It was a rainy day in Bradenton, so Shelton said that basically all team exercises were done indoors.
• In news away from camp, the Pirates announced their minor league coaching staffs Wednesday:
We have announced our minor league managers and staff assignments for the 2021 season. pic.twitter.com/bkgNs3JeVF
— Pirates (@Pirates) February 17, 2021
Manager Brian Esposito, hitting coach Jon Nunnally and pitching coach Joel Hanrahan are all returning to AAA Indianapolis, where they were originally assigned for last season before the season was cancelled. That trio ran the Altoona camp last year.
Miguel Perez, who was supposed to manager Greensboro last year, is taking over in Altoona.