(Yonhap Interview) 'Innings and wins': what Drew Anderson hopes to bring to SSG Landers

By Yoo Jee-ho

INCHEON, May 15 (Yonhap) -- For new foreign players arriving in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), it's difficult enough to try to find their footing and start delivering the goods from the beginning of the season.

But to do it in the middle of a season? As a replacement for someone whose slump was so bad the team decided to cut bait with the season barely a month old? That's a whole new level of challenge.

Just don't tell it to Drew Anderson, the new starting pitcher for the SSG Landers.

Anderson, 30, signed with the Landers on April 27, about a month after the KBO season began. The Landers acquired him to replace Robert Dugger, who had a 0-3 record with an abysmal 12.71 ERA.

The Landers are paying Anderson US$570,000 for the rest of the season to be the front-end starter that Dugger never was. And that's some pressure on a pitcher with limited starting experience in recent years.

The Landers are being patient with their new American pitcher as he gradually increases his workload. He threw three innings in his KBO debut last Friday and is scheduled to go just four innings in his next outing.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul, Anderson said he was taking his situation in stride.

"Not so much challenging but just time consuming," Anderson said, when asked about challenges of ramping up in a new league in a new country. "I've got to build up the stamina to get back up to throwing seven, eight innings. I haven't thrown three innings since I threw it once over a month ago. So just to build up that stamina is the most important thing."

Anderson saw his fastball velocity dip as his first game here progressed, but he insisted Tuesday he had no physical issues.

"I feel really good," he said. "The body is healthy. Legs are healthy. The mind is healthy."

Anderson has 19 big league games under his belt for three clubs, with a 1-3 record and a 6.50 ERA over 44 1/3 innings. Only two of those 19 games were starts.

This year, Anderson pitched for the Toledo Mud Hens, the Triple-A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers, before joining the Landers. He had a 2-1 record with a 3.86 ERA in nine relief appearances.

He did have some starting opportunities while pitching for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan in 2022 and 2023, with 19 starts among his 34 appearances there.

Anderson said pitching amid constant cheering from the stands in a KBO game wasn't a shock to his system -- as it can be for foreign hurlers without any prior experience -- because he had a taste of that in Japan.

And that's one fewer area of adjustment he has to worry about, because he has enough on his plate when he takes the mound.

Asked about what he had noticed from KBO hitters during his early days, Anderson said, "I feel like they're really aggressive."

"They're aggressive at the first pitch. They definitely want to try to drive the ball," he said. "When a hitter's aggressive, I feel like it's a lot easier to pitch to them because then you can mix pitches. The more patient hitter, it's tougher pitch to, for sure."

And once he figures out how to handle those aggressive KBO hitters, Anderson hopes he can do what Dugger couldn't do: win games.

"Hopefully, I bring a lot of wins," Anderson said with a smile. "That's the main thing. Innings and wins."

jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)