FanPost

Law: Anderson's stuff and polish are big league ready

Last night, someone pointed out that Keith Law twittered that he may prefer Anderson over Haren by the end of this year.

http://twitter.com/keithlaw

I find that hard to believe.  Not that Anderson is bad or will be bad by the end of the year, it's just that Dan Haren is so good.  He pitches over 200 innings, he strikesout hitters (around 200 per year), doesn't walk hitters (55 and 40 the last 2 years), and has a great splitter.

I commented that I hoped Law would elaborate a little bit.  This morning he did.

 

Oakland's trade of Dan Haren looked at the time like a bid for quantity over quality, but the rapid progression of left-hander Brett Anderson has changed that.
Anderson, the 20th-best prospect in baseball and the third-best left-handed prospect, showed great command of a four-pitch mix on Sunday along with excellent feel for pitching. Anderson was 91-93 mph with good life on the pitch, and mixed in a sharp two-plane curve from 76-81 mph, an above-average changeup with great arm speed from 82-84 mph and a short cutter/slider in the same range as the changeup. He threw everything for strikes and showed uncanny feel for a pitcher his age, setting hitters up, changing speeds, and changing eye levels.
He's a quick worker with an aggressive approach and a clean delivery that he repeats well. Anderson only has six starts above A-ball, but he's never been challenged in pro ball, and both his stuff and polish are big-league ready.

 

I don't think anyone is surprised that Anderson is close to major league ready.  People at AN have been raving about this guy and I think we all known that Anderson is like Mulder (great polish, great mechanics, etc...), while Cahill is like Hudson (dynamite splitter).  

I am really surprised that Law complimented Anderson so much, as he generally does not like the A's.

Of course, after the nice words about Anderson he ripped Ross and Hunter.