Shen grad in postseason
Ian Anderson will start for the Braves against the Reds
Tom Huerter coached Ian Anderson for nine years of travel baseball with the Clifton Park Knights.
He saw Anderson pitch in his share of big games, including a Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Maryland, and a Babe Ruth World Series in Moses Lake, Washington.
Huerter said those childhood experiences helped prepare Anderson for the next milestone moment of his baseball career. The rookie righthander will make his first postseason start for the Atlanta Braves against the Cincinnati Reds at noon Thursday in Game 2 of their National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park in Cumberland, Georgia.
“When you’re a 10-yearold kid and you’re trying to pitch your 10-year-old team into a World Series and it’s the last inning of that game, is there a bigger moment for that 10year-old kid? I don’t think so,” Huerter said. “In a lot of ways, there’s a correlation to that (Thursday). He’s been putting himself in these positions. He’s
had that pressure on his shoulders all the time. In a way, I think he’s perfectly suited to pitch in this moment. I think he’s prepared himself for this and I think he’ll handle it well.”
Anderson and the Braves will try to eliminate the Reds in the bestof-three series. Atlanta won Game 1 1-0 in 13 innings on Wednesday.
Huerter plans on watching the game, which will be televised on ESPN, with Anderson’s father, Bob, his twin brother, Ben, and his high school coach, Shenendehowa’s Greg Christodulu.
Ian and Ben Anderson led Shen to the 2016 Class AA state title, the same year Ian was drafted third overall by the Braves.
Anderson was called up just five weeks ago from the Braves’ alternate training site in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Since then, he’s gone 3-2 with a 1.95 earned-run average in six starts.
“I didn’t think it was quite going to work out in this fashion, but all the work that I was doing down there and everything that was happening down there was to prepare me for something like this,” Anderson said on a Zoom call. “So I feel comfortable and confident going in and that was kind of the way that I was treating the alternate site, just trying to get better and prepare myself for a situation like this.”
He agreed with Huerter that pitching in significant games as a youngster, including that Shen championship run, helped get him where he is now.
“That’s why you play the game,” Anderson said. “You want to go out and play against the best and I think that always gives you a little more fire going out there and that’s kind of always how I’ve been. I always want to face the best teams and that’s kind of the championship mentality that everyone in this locker room has.”
One of his travel baseball teammates was Kevin Huerter, Tom’s younger son, who turned into a basketball star at Shenendehowa. They’re now big leaguers in the same city because Kevin Huerter plays guard for the NBA’S Atlanta Hawks.
Kevin Huerter attended Anderson’s major league debut against the New York Yankees in August, sitting masked in a suite at Truist Park. He sent Anderson a good-luck text message on Tuesday night.
“It’s great they have that connection because, even now, they have someone that can be a resource,” Tom Huerter said.
Under normal circumstances, Anderson would be pitching in front of a loud throng of more than 40,000 fans on Thursday. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no fans, just like his other six pro starts.
“I think it has the chance to help you,” Anderson said. “It’s obviously going to be different. I haven’t experienced 40,000 fans yelling yet, so this is more what I’m used to. But I think it has a chance to benefit the pitchers because when things start going bad, you’ll be able to reel it in quicker.”