Tyler Anderson made his first start in a Los Angeles Angels uniform on Friday against his former Los Angeles Dodgers club and came away with solid results.
Anderson pitched two shutout innings while giving up no hits, but he did walk two batters. But this early in Spring Training, there’s not much more you can ask for from a result standpoint.
For the veteran left-hander, it was also his first time pitching with the pitch timer, which is what he was focused on most in the start to figure out how he would need to adjust to it before the regular season begins.
“For me, it was really just a chance to go out and pitch on the clock,” Anderson said. “Obviously, you want to go out and compete and get guys out. But I really wanted to see how I felt with this clock and if I felt like I was rushed, or out of breath, or had to hurry up, and if it changes game management type stuff. So for me, that’s kind of what the goal was.”
Thankfully for Anderson, he didn’t feel like there was a huge adjustment he’ll need to make, and it’s more about just mentality getting used to pitching with it. “No, I didn’t feel rushed. But I definitely felt like I was paying a lot of attention to the clock,” Anderson said.
“Like you want to get to the point I think here, and I’m sure we’ll get there in the next couple of games, where it feels like it’s second nature, where you kind of have a feel for what that clock is and you kind of can assume. Like if I look alright, it’s probably nine right now, instead of like, alright, I got my sign, what is it? Okay, I’m good to go.
“Like I don’t want to have to feel like you’re taking a sign, then checking the clock, and then looking home. But yeah, I think overall it was alright.”
Also on the back of Anderson’s mind was making sure he didn’t give his former teammates something to trash talk him about after the game, especially after his All-Star season with the Dodgers.
“You don’t want to go out and embarrass yourself,” Anderson said. “And those guys obviously want to talk a lot of smack. So you know, my buddies, but you want to make sure don’t give them too many bragging rights.”
Tyler Anderson enjoying time with Angels
The southpaw is in the first year of a three-year deal with the Angels, and they are hoping he can help lead a young pitching staff while throwing in the middle of their rotation behind Shohei Ohtani and Patrick Sandoval. So far, he has enjoyed his time with his new club.
“It’s fun,” Anderson said. “It’s fun, we got a really good team, so I’m excited. All the guys are awesome and good, and you know the pitching staff is really fun. Good guys that are great competitors and fun to be around, and then our offense is pretty good too.”
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