Ian Anderson turns in another impressive outing on Braves farm

Most of the Braves injury news has been incredibly negative, but there’s been a couple of bright spots, namely Ian Anderson and his return from Tommy John surgery.

Anderson went under the knife nearly two years ago and made his first appearance since August of 2022 a couple of weeks ago, where he pitched two perfect innings with four strikeouts in the Florida Complex League.

In his second outing, he gave up one run with three punchouts over three innings, and his stuff — from a velocity perspective — looked very similar to that of his pre-injury stuff, sitting around 94 with his fastball and 88 with his changeup.

Most recently, he made his third appearance on the Braves farm, pitching three innings of one-hit ball for the Single-A Augusta GreenJackets on Sunday.

Ian Anderson's final line:

3 IP
1 H
0 R
1 BB
1 K

1-0 Augusta and Adam Shoemaker takes the ball! pic.twitter.com/Mib06IlNR8

— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) June 30, 2024

This is Ian Anderson’s third rehab appearance but his first above rookie ball. In total, he’s tossed eight innings of one-run ball. The Braves aren’t in a rush to get him to Atlanta, and they shouldn’t be for two reasons.

First, the arms at the major league level haven’t been the problem; in fact, they’ve been the answer to the club’s offensive woes. Regardless of the revolving door at the back of the rotation, the Braves are in an infinitely better spot right now with Spencer Schwellenbach, Bryce Elder, and a soon-to-return A.J. Smith-Shawver than ever.

Secondly, anything Ian Anderson gives the Braves this year should be seen as the cherry on top of a healthy cake. That’s the only goal for Anderson, to remain healthy.

However, if the 26-year-old can make it back to Atlanta, the Braves would have one more versatile arm at the major league level. The starting rotation and the bullpen could find use for a guy with Anderson’s experience.

His regular season stats — 22-13 with a 3.97 ERA — won’t blow anyone away, but his postseason numbers are that of legend. In four postseason starts during the Braves World Series run, he posted a 1.59 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and a .153 opponents average.

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David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire