San Francisco Giants: Breaking down top pitching prospect Shaun Anderson

The San Francisco Giants have officially recalled top pitching prospect Shaun Anderson ahead of Wednesday’s game. Here is a breakdown of what he brings to the table.

The San Francisco Giants were expected to be bad in 2019 and it’s pretty safe to say that they’ve lived up to expectations. In fact, pretty much everything has gone exactly the way fans had expected.

The Giants bullpen has been phenomenal, but their lineup is arguably the worst in the league. Defensively, the Giants have been spectacular but their lack of speed has held them back in more ways than one.

But none of that was unexpected. For the most part, the Giants season has been void of any major surprises.

Except for the play of the starting rotation.

While no one expected San Francisco’s starters to be as dominant as Giants teams of the past, there’s likely no one that foresaw this level of regression. The likes of Derek Holland and Dereck Rodriguez have struggled mightily this season after being revelations in 2018. And new addition Drew Pomeranz has proved to be just as ineffective as he was last season with the Boston Red Sox.

Fortunately, the Giants are aware of their issues and have effectively split up their trio of incompetent starters all at once. Holland has been moved to the bullpen, Rodriguez has been optioned to Triple-A, and Pomeranz has landed on the injured list — although it wouldn’t be surprising to see the former Colorado Rockies pitcher moved out of the rotation before long.

With the Giants in a clear state of flux with their rotation, the team has officially recalled their top pitching prospect, Shaun Anderson, from Triple-A Sacramento. Anderson is currently ranked as the team’s No.1 pitching prospect and fourth overall prospect in their system.

And while the Giants farm system is hardly stacked with top-level talent, that still counts for something.

Anderson was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in July of 2017 in a deal that sent Eduardo Nunez packing to the American League. The 24-year-old has steadily risen through the ranks of the Giants minor leagues since first being acquired and has spent all of this season pitching with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.

In seven starts this season Anderson has a 4.11 ERA and has struck out 37 in 35.0 innings pitched. His 9.51 K/9 ranks top-10 in the Pacific Coast League among qualified pitchers and is a sizable uptick from his 8.9 K/9 last season.

Speaking of last season, Anderson split time between Double-A and Triple-A but played the majority of the year with the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels. In 16 starts with Richmond, Anderson poster an excellent 3.45 ERA before receiving a promotion to Sacramento later in the year.

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Anderson was primarily used out of the bullpen during his time in college, but still has an effective array of pitches at his disposal. The Florida product throws a fastball that maxes out at around 96 mph and regularly touches 93 and 94. His fastball is arguably his best pitch as it has superb sinking action that results in a ton of groundball outs.

His primary breaking pitch has been his slider which has excellent late-breaking action and is used mostly as his “out” pitch. As a whole, Anderson doesn’t necessarily have elite stuff, but he throws strikes and has enough movement on his pitches to project him as a reliable starter in the MLB for a long time.

With Holland and Pomeranz clearly not a part of the Giants future, it wouldn’t be all too surprising to see Anderson stick around in the big leagues if he impresses. He doesn’t have the look or star potential of a future ace, but he does have a relatively high floor and could become a mainstay in the Giants rotation in the near and distant future.

In a season that has been full of dreadful despair, Giants fans need something to get their hopes up. Perhaps Anderson could help spark a bit of optimism for the organization and provide some young stability in an aging, struggling Giants rotation.

We’ll get our first look at Anderson when he takes the mound Wednesday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays.