Angels’ Tyler Anderson encouraged by performance, durability in bounce-back season

CHICAGO — A great year turned into a pretty good year for Tyler Anderson, but that’s still much better than the awful year he endured in 2023.

“That’s baseball sometimes,” the Angels left-hander said on the eve of his final start of the season, on Thursday afternoon. “I feel like in the second half, my command wasn’t as good. Got away from some stuff. Just battling some more stuff than the first half.”

Anderson has a 3.70 ERA going into his 31st start of the season. That certainly is much better than his 5.43 ERA in 2023, but not as good as the 2.99 ERA he had through Aug. 8. He was selected for the All-Star Game in July.

To both Anderson and Manager Ron Washington, the second-half struggles don’t detract from the overall picture, starting with his durability.

“It’s been up and down,” Washington said. “But he’s posted. He’s dealing with some things along the way. (Thirty-one) starts is not that easy to accomplish. He’s taken the ball each time. I think he’s had a tremendous year for us.”

Anderson said his biggest disappointment last season – the first year of a three-year, $39 million deal – was that he wasn’t able to give the Angels the innings he expected.

Anderson had pitched at least 167 innings in the previous three full seasons – excluding the shortened 2020 season – but last season with the Angels he pitched only 141 innings.

“After such a low innings number last year, my goal this year was just to come out and throw more innings,” Anderson said.

Coming into his final start, Anderson has thrown 175 innings. If he gets through four innings on Thursday, he’ll set a new career high.

Obviously, the key to pitching a lot of innings is to be effective enough to stay in games. To that end, Anderson said he ditched some of the experiments he tried in the winter before the 2023 season.

“Instead of trying new things, I’m just gonna do the things I know that I do well,” Anderson said. “Just try to stick to my strengths and that’s it. If I’m gonna get beat and have a really bad year, I’m going to do it doing things that I know have worked in the past.”

Anderson, 34, said he was able to improve his flexibility over the winter, and that allowed him to get into the right positions to keep his mechanics where they should be.

Late in the year, though, he’s noticed that he’s lost some weight. That tells him he needs to find the right balance between maintaining flexibility and building muscle.

“There’s a fine line,” he said. “I’ll try to do even better next year.”

ONE MORE TIME

Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz is scheduled to start the final game of the season, on Sunday.

Kochanowicz, 23, has already thrown a career-high 160⅓ innings, after throwing just 94 last season, so it would not have been a surprise if the Angels decided to end his season and just have a bullpen game in the season finale.

But Washington said they’re inclined to give him one more.

“There’s no reason to stop him,” Washington said. “He doesn’t look like he’s running out of gas. He’s a young dude, and he looks stronger and stronger the more he pitches. It’s very impressive what he has done.”

Kochanowicz has a 4.01 ERA in 10 starts, including a 2.63 ERA over his last eight starts.

HEADED FOR THE AFL

Right-hander Sam Bachman headlines the list of eight Angels prospects who will be playing in the Arizona Fall League. Typically, a player who has already pitched in the majors would not be in the AFL, but Bachman had shoulder surgery last year and other injuries this season, so the Angels would like him to add to the 61⅔ innings he pitched in the minors this season.

Left-handers Jack Dashwood and Sammy Natera Jr., right-handers Jack Dashwood and Brandon Dufault, and infielders Kyren Paris, Cole Fontenelle and David Mershon will also be playing in the AFL. Mershon was just drafted this summer.

All of the Angels’ prospects will be playing for Mesa, which will be managed by Angels Double-A manager Andy Schatzley. The season begins Oct. 7.

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP Tyler Anderson, 10-14, 3.70 ERA) at White Sox (RHP Chris Flexen, 2-15, 5.15 ERA), Thursday, 11:10 a.m. PT, Bally Sports West, 830 AM