Matthew Jason Anderson (born August 17, 1976) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) relief pitcher. The first overall pick in the

1997 MLB Draft The 1997 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, was held on June 2 and 3, 1997. A total of 1607 players were drafted over the course of 92 rounds. First round selections ...

, he played for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

between 1998 and 2005.

Early life and college career

Anderson attended St. Xavier High School, which was also attended by MLB players

Paul Byrd Paul Gregory Byrd (born December 3, 1970), is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who is currently a TV sports broadcaster for Atlanta Braves games on Bally Sports Southeast. While pitching in Major League Baseball (MLB), ...

, Chris Burke, and Jack Savage. After high school, he went on to

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universit ...

. In 1995, Anderson was a

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

all-star. In 1996, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate ...

with the Chatham A's of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thous ...

, and was named the league's top pro prospect. In 1997 he was a

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of ...

all-star and a First Team College All-American. Anderson set Rice University records for career

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(30) and saves (14), and also posted a 1.82

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

(ERA) during his final year with the team. In the 1997 amateur entry draft, Anderson was selected first overall by the

. He eventually signed with the team for a $2.5 million signing bonus.

Professional career

Anderson was named the 24th best prospect in 1998 by Baseball America. In 1998, he was called up by the Tigers from the minors, where he had an ERA under 0.70. In his first Major League season, he went 5–1 with a 3.27 ERA in 42 games. He also struck out 44 batters in 44 innings pitched. Anderson's numbers were never again as impressive as those of his rookie season, although he was able to record 22 saves (with a 4.82 ERA) in 2001. In May 2002, Anderson tore a muscle in the armpit of his throwing arm while throwing a bullpen session. Earlier the same day, he had participated in a Tigers-sponsored fan octopus-throwing contest along with Jeff Weaver, leading to the perception (though disputed by Anderson) that he'd torn the muscle in hopes of winning

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

playoff tickets. After returning from the injury, he was unable to hit 90 mph on his

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have t ...

in his remaining days in Detroit, after regularly topping 100 mph on the radar gun, including a high mark of 103 mph twice. After spending all of 2004 in AAA for the Tigers, Anderson made his final appearances in the bigs in 2005. Anderson walked 11 batters and gave up 19 hits in 10

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

s with the

that season. Anderson started the 2006 season with the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies in the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

organization. After going 1–2 with a 9.17 ERA in 29 games in relief with them, he was released by the Giants and signed with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League, where he went 1–1 with a 4.11 ERA in 15 games. After not pitching at all in 2007, he was signed to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

for 2008 by the Chicago White Sox. He did not make the team and pitched for the Charlotte Knights, the White Sox's Triple-A team. On January 14, 2011, Anderson signed a minor league contract with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...

. On April 2, 2011, he was released.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Matt 1976 births Living people Detroit Tigers players Colorado Rockies players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Louisville, Kentucky Lakeland Tigers players Jacksonville Suns players Toledo Mud Hens players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Fresno Grizzlies players Bridgeport Bluefish players Charlotte Knights players Rice Owls baseball players Chatham Anglers players All-American college baseball players