It has all been building up to this one moment.
A batter is going to step into the batter’s box, and a pitcher is going to toe the rubber. The pitcher will go through his windup, deliver the ball to the plate, and all the expectations and hype will be released through the sound of the ball smacking into the catcher’s mitt.
There won’t be any more talk of expectations, or how it feels to be a part of the first baseball program at the University of Oregon in almost three decades. There won’t be any more talk about the Ducks’ new field at PK Park, and there won’t be any more speculation about how the season will go. All there will be is the game of baseball, and Oregon will just be another of the hundreds of NCAA Division I programs competing.
And that’s exactly how freshman pitcher Tyler Anderson wants it. The 19-year-old left-hander from Las Vegas just wants to play, not have to answer all the questions about what it will feel like to be part of the first inning of Oregon baseball in 28 years.
Of course, he will have to humor the media for one more day, because his name will forever be linked with the resurgence of Duck baseball as starting pitcher.
“It’s cool that I get to be out there, and it means a lot to be the first pitcher,” Anderson said. “I’ve come a long ways to get here, and being a part of a new season is going to be fun. But at this point, I’m just looking forward to play someone in a different uniform.”
A dozen different players have regurgitated that same sentiment over the last few weeks, and the 6-foot-3 Anderson just repeated it, but it’s his close-mouthed approach that speaks volumes about his personality. He’s a quiet guy around the press, answering most questions in just one or two sentences, and one can tell he’s most at ease on a mound, 60 feet, six inches from the plate.
“He’s got ice water in his veins,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “He’s passed every test (pitching coach Andrew) Checketts has put his way, and quite honestly he’s probably been the most consistent pitcher since the beginning of the fall. He deserves to be the starter.”
Anderson has put in the time, in the weight room and in the field, to get the attention of the coaches. He came into fall practices under the radar and not even on the starting roster, but gained six miles per hour on his fastball and impressed coaches with his accuracy.
“It was a pretty easy decision in the end,” Checketts said. “He out-pitched and out-worked everybody. Initially going into the winter, he wasn’t even in the mix to be a starter, but he continued to work and improve through January.”
Checketts is an Oregon native who grew up in West Linn. He played three seasons with Oregon State, where he won the Pac-10 North Player of the Year and was an All-American in 1998. He moved on to coach pitchers at UC Riverside in California from 2002-07 before moving back to his home state, and he believes Anderson can be a great pitcher.
“One day he can become a power pitcher,” Checketts said. “He’s a big, physical kid. His fastball is in the upper 80s, which isn’t exactly a power fastball, but what separates him is his fastball command. He can throw that thing wherever he wants to.”
Anderson is also gifted with a wicked slider, which breaks away from left-handed hitters at 80 mph and jams right-handers.
“It’s his best out pitch,” Checketts said. “It’s tough, especially on lefties. But he has command of all of his pitches.”
Anderson said his command is what works to his advantage.
“I’m not someone who is going to overpower you,” he said. “I throw four pitches and I try and control them all at any time in the count.”
The command will get Anderson far in the world of baseball and Horton has big things planned for him. He expects Anderson to be a “shutout” type of pitcher who can win a lot of games for the Ducks.
“Tyler is definitely that type of guy,” Horton said. “At one point it was Erik Stavert, and at one point it was Ben Whitmore, who has been very consistent, but I think the fairest way to say it is that all of our guys can do it. It just happens that Tyler is a little bit more deserving right now.”
Horton has a rule about whom he starts on Fridays, too, and that eventually led him and Checketts to go with Anderson.
“In college more then any other level, it’s crucial to match number one with number one,” Horton said. “The Friday guy is the guy that can potentially shut you out. I’ve had all-league pitchers with low ERAs but bad records because our team couldn’t hit against the opposition’s No. 1 on Friday. Tyler can be our potential number one.”
But right now everything is speculation until the game is played. The only thing the coaches have to go on is his performance against his teammates and his stats from high school.
Anderson had a 2.98 ERA his senior year with a 7-4 record. He struck out 72 batters in 56 innings and walked 27 people. Not terribly impressive numbers, but potential was part of the reason teams recruited him. He even turned down playing professional baseball with the Minnesota Twins after they drafted him in the 50th round of the 2008 MLB Draft, saying he just wanted to go to college.
So, finally, it’s going to be just about baseball. Anderson is going to kick off the 2009 Oregon Duck baseball season today when he takes the mound in the bottom of the first inning against the St. Mary’s Gaels. Then his fellow pitchers will follow, picking up where he left off, just having a game of catch with no distractions for the first time in months.
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