Tigers sign Drew Anderson

[Roger King]

Well, at least it’s not Matt Anderson. But… Who?

Free-agent right-hander Drew Anderson in agreement with Tigers on one-year deal with club option, pending physical, sources tell @TheAthletic. Spent last four seasons in Japan and Korea, and had a 2.25 ERA in 30 starts in KBO in 2025. Hasn’t pitched in majors since 2021.

Roger King
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[Paul Meloche]

I hadn’t heard of him either, but according to Wikipedia he was with Toledo as recently as 2024.

Paul M.

On Dec 5, 2025, at 8:06 PM, Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com> wrote:



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[Peter Welch]

Anderson pitched with the Tigers in Spring Training last year as a non-roster invitee.

He started the season with Toledo but was released later in April and signed with a Korean league team.

He had 245 Ks in 171.2 innings with a 2.25 ERA this year in the Korean league.  He made 30 starts.  He started 23 games in Korea in 2024.  His strikeout rate is above 12 K/9 in Korea.  It's only 6.1 K/9 in the majors.  Maybe he's developed some new effective pitch in Korea?

I wonder if the Tigers plan to move him to the bullpen?

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 5, 2025 11:15 PM
To: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Cc: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Tigers sign Drew Anderson

 

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[Dave]

While he was with the Tigers that spring the staff got his velocity up from 92 to 97 mph.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2025/12/05/tigers-agree-to-terms-on-1-year-deal-with-veteran-rhp-drew-anderson/87633330007/

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[Michael W]

Smart pick-up.  Anderson seems to have learned to pitch a bit in Japan and Korea, with a 2.78 ERA in his 456 innings overseas.  If he doesn't pan out, it costs nothing, and if he pitches well we've got the option for next year.

In 2021, his last full-year stateside, he was decent:   3.06 ERA in AAA, and 3.27 in 22 innings with the Rangers.

Michael

[Peter Welch]

I wonder what the average equivalent level of hitters (and pitchers) is in the Japanese and Korean leagues?

I'm guessing it varies wildly from high-A/AA to Major League level.

Anderson has been striking out hitters in the KBO the last 2 years like he was Tarik Skubal.  

His K rate in MLB is 6.1 K/9, in the Japanese league it was 7.7 K/9, but it jumped significantly to 12.6 K/9 in the KBO in 2024-25.

I don't know if it's normal for hitters in the KBO to strike out a lot, or Anderson actually developed into a much better pitcher in Korea.

The Blue Jays seem to think Cody Ponce developed into a much better pitcher in Korea and Japan the last couple of years.  Ponce's K rate jumped to 12.6 K/9 in 2025 in the Korean league (he struck out 252 hitters in 180.2 IP).  His K rate in Japan in 2024 was 9.8.  It was 7.5 in 2023.   Ponce's overall K rate in the Japanese league was 7.4 and his K rate in MLB is 7.8.  

It will be interesting to see how both Ponce and Anderson (if he gets a chance to pitch with the Tigers) translate their improvement to the major leagues.  

Erick Fedde is another previously-mediocre pitcher who pitched in Korea and seemed to become a better pitcher after that.

Peter

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Subject: Re: Tigers sign Drew Anderson

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[Michael W]

Generally they say that Japan is similar to AAA and Korea is similar to AA.  There have been enough players back and forth that it should be reasonably well calibrated by now.  

Michael

[Roger King]

Terms of Anderson's deal have been announced: He'll make $7 million in 2026 and there's a club option for $10 million for 2027.  

This feels like a massive overpay, no?  Getting Maeda vibes all over again in the sense that he is going to make the roster for sure now at that salary.  I had no idea.  I thought this would be a $1-1.5 million for a year kind of thing.  

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[David Panian]

Yeah, that's odd. It seems like there's some sort of race to give returning KBO pitchers large contracts.

At least its not three years, $30 million like the Jays gave Cody Ponce, who has been a rather unremarkable pitcher except for one MVP season in the KBO. Overall, it seems like Anderson has a better track record. They're about the same age.

David

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[Peter Welch]

You have to think the scouts see some change in Ponce and Anderson the past couple of years in Japan and Korea that they think will translate well to MLB.

Peter

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[Michael W]

It’s not like Maeda.  Maeda was already old, bad and oft-injured when they signed him.  Not the case here.  $7m is a lot, but not terrible.  $10m is a choice they get to make.

Michael

[Roger King]

No, I mean like Maeda in that because they signed Anderson for that amount of money, he’s automatically in the rotation. In context of our discussion the other day where Matt Manning was the odd man out in 2024 but not because of performance, I’m looking at the same thing potentially happening again. 

Skubal

Mize

Flaherty 

Olson

Melton

If everyone above is healthy, someone gets bumped for Anderson. 

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[Peter Welch]

They might be thinking about Anderson for the bullpen, or as some sort of swingman/sport starter, especially if they put Melton on an innings limit again.

Peter

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