Brewers Land Sidearmer Grant Anderson in Most Brewers Trade Ever

[Matthew Trueblood]

In a Thursday evening deal with the Rangers, the Crew brought in a pitcher who seems almost certain to take a big step forward under their care.

Image courtesy of © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Milwaukee sent 2024 seventh-round draftee Mason Molina to Texas on Thursday, in exchange for righty reliever Grant Anderson. Molina isn't a total non-prospect, but he was a slightly below-slot target deep into Day 2 of the MLB Draft. Matt Arnold surrendered him in order to jump the line, rather than waiting to see if Anderson would be claimed on waivers; the Rangers designated him for assignment when they signed Joc Pederson last week.

To make space for Anderson, the Brewers also designated Tyler Jay for assignment, which means they effectively gave up both Jay and Molina for him. Those are two pieces with very marginal value. Jay was unlikely to make it to Opening Day as a member of the organization, one way or another. Still, the team chose Anderson over both of the other two, when there was at least some chance they could have waited and collected him for just one of them. That indicates that they actively wanted Anderson. Why?

Here's why:

Anderson's stuff is non-premium, from a raw movement characteristics standpoint. His fastball sits south of 93 miles per hour, and his slider is solid but unspectacular. He has that extraordinary, funky sidearm delivery, though, which makes his four-seamer play at the top of the zone (especially against lefties) and his slider play like a sweepier pitch than it really is (especially against righties). 

The heaviness of his sinker is valuable in itself. It's the only pitch that has really worked for him in the big leagues thus far, and incredibly, it's because the ball sinks even harder than would be implied by his sidewinding arm action. This chart, from Dodgers analyst and former public-facing pitching guru Max Bay, shows that the sinker dips another three inches beyond what Anderson's slot would suggest. 

The point, though, is that Anderson is a low-slot righty with the ability to miss some bats and put hitters on the defensive. That makes him, roughly speaking, the most quintessentially Brewers pitcher to hit Milwaukee since Hoby Milner. The Brewers love hurlers with low arm slots, because the league still doesn't quite value them the way they should—but also because the Brewers are great at helping pitchers with those specific quirks turn important developmental corners. Milwaukee has, arguably, the best pitching development infrastructure in baseball for arms like these—those confined to relief roles, who need to find a way to execute and throw strikes better or to neutralize matchup problems.

Anderson has given up way too much hard contact in his young big-league career, mostly on that four-seam fastball. It's been in the middle of the plate too often. The Brewers are so, so good at helping pitchers like this fix problems like those, though, that his future feels brighter based solely on this trade. A change in alignment or placement on the rubber could make a huge difference for Anderson.

If he can start consistently hitting one corner with the slider and the other with his sinker, and if he can elevate the four-seamer a bit more often, he'll become a solid medium-leverage arm in a pen already chock-full of them. Worst-case scenario, Anderson can still be optioned to the minors any time during 2025. 

Giving up on Jay is a small thing, but losing Molina lands a bit heavier. Trading him for Anderson is a signal, however subtle, about how seriously the Brewers are taking their competitive window. Though he's unlikely to be a key cog, Anderson can be a solid contributor to the team's pursuit of a third straight division title—and a deeper playoff run. Since the same really couldn't be said of Jay or Molina, Arnold and company seized their chance, even if it be to make a small upgrade. Now, the onus will be on Chris Hook to work the same magic on Anderson that he did on Milner, Elvis Peguero, Bryan Hudson, and others over the last handful of years.

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[brewmann04]

Their deep pen gets deeper maybe another trade is on the horizon 

[biedergb]

We will see.  Molina had potential l but was a LHP and we just signed a zillion of those.  This reeks of a Hudson for Chambers trade last year, but maybe less upside on both.  And that’s why we keep T. Jay on the 40 man so he could be dropped - as opposed to a real prospect?

[jay87shot]

I don't mind this at all, he has some Darren O'Day style funk. A youtube video I watched showed he is all over the rubber and starts with his back to the batter. Molina was lucky to throw 90 so I won't toss and turn and Jay was just a AAAA style guy at best.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

My hope in this trade is the Crew go back to some of his funkier delivery sets in 2023. He kind of 'dumbed' it down last year and the results didn't really follow. I also hope he marries back to his tighter higher velo slider rather than his slower horizontally dominant sweeper of 2024. I became a pretty big Anderson fan when I stumbled upon him when tuning in to watch LHP Antoine Kelly pitch within the Rangers org back in 2023. Who could forget that historic 7 K (of 9 batters faced) in his debut vs the Tigers. That was an awesome moment. Anywho, Anderson has some really fun tools and I'm quite excited he gets a chance to work in the vaunted Lab. I see this as a pseudo right-handed Hoby role but I also see this as insurance for the loss of Bukowski in 2024 and his unknown return to form. 

[Spencer Michaelis]

The second embedded video showing a White Sox player getting hit in the face with a throw before the pitch was pretty perfect lol