Ian Anderson

Anderson's prospect balloon started to inflate in the summer prior to his junior year, when he showed off his lanky, projectable frame at the Metropolitan Baseball Classic. Then, during his junior year, Anderson pitched against 2015 first-round pick Garrett Whitley. Anderson went on to become a regular on the showcase circuit. The wiry Vanderbilt signee showed a promising fastball in the summer, regularly sitting 89-93 and bumping 94. In the spring, Anderson's velocity peaked even higher early in the season, reaching as high as 96 mph. The righthander complements his fastball with a late-breaking curveball in the upper 70s, which grades out as an above-average pitch, and a devastating mid-80s changeup, which garners plus grades from scouts. Anderson throws all three pitches from an identical release point, making his pitches difficult for hitters to identify. Anderson added a little bit of weight to his 6-foot-4, 180-pound frame over the winter, but scouts are dreaming on him continuing to get stronger, wondering just how high his ceiling could be if he can add more strength. Anderson has battled pneumonia and an upper body injury this spring, but he's shown enough at this point to put himself firmly in the first round, and he could go as high as the top five if he proves himself to be healthy over the final weeks of the season.