I too felt the Dodgers may follow their pattern of drafting high school pitchers with their first overall pick, although at #18 there would be no Clayton Kershaw available. I had a definite feeling that lefty Ian Clarkin of James Madison High School, CA would be first on the Dodgers radar. It would seem that major league teams in general did not have the same perspective on Clarkin that I did. He was eventually chosen 33rd overall by the New York Yankees. I did list Anderson as my first choice selection for the Dodgers from the college pitching ranks.Chris Anderson, born on July 29, 1992, was one of the youngest college pitchers available in the draft. Previously drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the thirty-fifth round in 2010, the native of Lino Lakes, Minnesota chose to attend Jacksonville University becoming the first ever first round MLB draft selection from his alma mater.

He was the ace on the Jacksonville staff and quickly rose up the drafts boards in the spring. His fastball will touch 97. It is consistently above average and more importantly has good sink. His slider in some reports is described as a “wipeout”pitch which is encouraging. His change up needs work, as it does for most young pitchers, but is seen as a very creditable third pitch and perhaps the key to any early arrival with the Dodgers. Even more importantly, his control and command are above average. Some projections have Anderson as a possible mid rotation starter and an innings eater, a description for pitchers that has never sat very well with me. Others see Anderson with a much higher ceiling as he fills out his 6 foot 4 inch frame.

As his season wore on Anderson went through a bit of a rough patch. It is suggested that the reason was simply fatigue. That may well explain why he was still available with the 18th pick. According to Steve Sypa “Anderson started the season out strong, throwing no less than 7 innings per start until late March and the beginning of April, where he had a few games where he got roughed up a bit and wasn’t able to throw as many innings as he had been. By May, he pushed through that bout of fatigue and was putting up numbers like he had been earlier in the year.”

I like Keith Law’s perspective on Chris Anderson. The ESPN analyst writes: “Anderson has the size, roughly the fastball velocity and the potential out pitch in that slider to profile as a No. 2 starter.” I expect the Dodgers will move slowly with Anderson in 2013 as a result of his pitching workload with Jacksonville University. He may well begin his professional season with the Arizona League Dodgers and progress to the Ogden Raptors as the season progresses. I would look for him to perhaps not start many games in 2013 but to piggyback his innings with another starter.