Playing overseas is always an option for players to consider if things don’t work out for them in the majors. They can put themselves in line to make more money than they would playing in the minors or on a minimum MLB salary, and for some, they can build up some stats that entice teams to give them another shot at the majors. That’s exactly what happened for right-hander Drew Anderson, who signed a one-year, $7-million deal with a team option for a second season at $10-million. The deal came from the Detroit Tigers after Anderson spent the past two seasons pitching for the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization.

Anderson’s timing to go overseas came at a strange time. He left after the 2021 season when he had posted his best MLB numbers going 1-1, 3.27 in 9 games (1 start) with Texas. While it was a small sample size he had a career ERA of 9.67 in 10 games with the Phillies and White Sox prior to that season. Anderson, who is now 31, left the majors to pitch for the Hiroshima Carp in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League. In two seasons, Anderson had a 3.05 ERA and he attempted a comeback then with the Tigers who signed him to a minor league contract. He didn’t make the team out of Spring Training and was pitching in Korea after just a month in the minors. He pitched to a 3.89 ERA in 2024 and had an even better season in 2025 when he made 30 starts for Landers and finished with a 2.25 ERA over 171.2 innings of work. This past season, Anderson had an unheard of strikeout percentage of 35.3-percent with just a 7.3-percent walk rate. He also had a 45.9-percent groundball rate.

The Phillies drafted Anderson in the 21st round in 2012 and he made his MLB on August of 2017, giving up one run in an inning of work against the Angels. Over three seasons, Anderson pitched in 9 games as a Phillie and had a 7.71 ERA. He was released by the Phillies and signed with the White Sox where he spent less than one season in their organization. He made one relief appearance and gave up 6 earned runs (2 home runs) and pitched just 1.1 innings for an ERA of 40.50. He was then released by Chicago and signed with Texas for the 2022 season when he had his best numbers, but found himself released again following the season.

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