Chase Anderson was one of the Philadelphia Phillies‘ biggest pitching problems this season, and that’s saying something for a team who would likely be in first place if they’d had a somewhat consistent bullpen this year.
Signed in early February 2021, Anderson was to be one of a few new additions to the big-league squad, along with Matt Moore and former top prospect Spencer Howard.
In a weird twist, Anderson will now join Howard in the Texas Rangers organization, as he signed a minor-league deal on August 31.
Howard, of course, was the centerpiece of the trade deadline package that brought Kyle Gibson, Ian Kennedy, and prospect Hans Crouse to Philadelphia from Texas.
After being released by the Philadelphia Phillies, Chase Anderson has signed a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers
The Phillies were hoping Anderson would have a bounce-back season after he posted career-worst ERA, WHIP, and FIP in 2020. Over the six seasons prior with the Diamondbacks and Brewers, he had a 3.94 ERA over 166 games (160 starts). He’d been excellent for the Brewers in 2017, with a 2.74 ERA over 25 starts. He’d landed in Milwaukee in the same trade that sent his future Phillies teammate Jean Segura to Arizona.
Instead, he only appeared in 14 games for the Phillies, and only nine starts. He managed a 6.75 ERA over 48 innings, with 35 strikeouts and 20 walks. He missed significant time on the COVID-related IL, and did not take the mound between June 1-July 26. When he returned in late July, he made three appearances totaling 10 innings of work. He allowed five earned runs in that span.
By midsummer, it was expected that he would not be a Phillie in 2022.
Chase Anderson returns to his hometown
It was not a surprise that the Phillies released him, but hopefully, he’ll fare better with the Rangers, who are his hometown team.
Anderson grew up north of Arlington, in Wichita Falls, Texas. When his parents divorced, he moved in with his father, with whom he was very close. Robert Anderson passed away suddenly from a heart attack in 2012, and never got to see his son pitch in the big leagues, so the younger Anderson began wearing his father’s clothes before each home start.
Growing up a Rangers fan in Texas, Anderson aspired to pitch like fellow Texans Nolan Ryan and Josh Beckett. When he struggled in the majors, he revamped his pitches by watching footage of Ryan and Nathan Eovaldi, who are both from Alvin, Texas.
Maybe Texas is where he was meant to be all along.