This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Drew Anderson left the Tigers farm system two years ago, taking a chance to prove himself overseas after making an impression with Detroit in Spring Training in 2024. But as he settled in as an ace in Korea, he always hoped for a chance to return.
With the one-year, $7 million deal he signed last month, he’s back. This time, however, the 31-year-old has the job security of a guaranteed contract and the track record of a dominant season in the KBO, including the pitch arsenal to go with it.
Anderson is one of the latest in a trend of pitchers to bounce from MLB or the Minor Leagues to Korea to try to fine-tune their game and take the next step, then return to the U.S. a better pitcher. He’s the rare case of someone doing so with the same team.
“I was definitely hoping [to come back],” Anderson said in a Zoom call with reporters last month, “because I really liked the Tigers. I watched them the whole year, both [2024 and 2025], going to the playoffs. And I definitely think this year probably progress into the playoffs even more.”
The Tigers liked what they saw from Anderson in Spring Training two years ago. As difficult as Spring Training can be to judge new players, Anderson’s pure pitching showed promise. He gave up seven runs in eight innings across six Grapefruit League appearances, but all but one of those runs came in his final outing. He racked up 14 strikeouts, five of them in a late-game, two-inning appearance.
Not a bad spring for a pitcher who had just come back to the States on a non-roster invite after two seasons in Japan. Once he arrived at Triple-A Toledo, he pitched fairly well, striking out 16 batters over 14 innings across nine relief appearances. Again, five of his six runs allowed came in one outing.
But when an offer came in from KBO, he took the opportunity.
”It’s a great opportunity to go over there and solidify yourself as a starter,” Anderson said. “Everybody wants to be the guy, and once you get to Korea, you’re the guy, and that’s always a good feeling. I was in Japan, and I already had a good feel for how Asian baseball is. So I was like, ‘OK, I could go back to Korea and be a starter the entire year and have my own routine. And that’s the biggest thing, being able to be on your own routine and do what you need to do day in and day out. So going over to Korea, that helped out a lot.”
Even as he left the Tigers organization, however, Anderson kept in touch. Beyond following the team, he said, he kept in touch with Mud Hens pitching coach Doug Bochtler, a relationship that helped play a role in Anderson’s return.
Anderson hit the mound in Korea and settled in quickly, going 11-3 with a 3.89 ERA and 158 strikeouts over 115 2/3 innings for SSG Landers. He returned last year and topped that, posting a 12-7 record, 2.25 ERA and 245 strikeouts over 171 2/3 innings. A kick change that he added to his arsenal proved to be a nasty pitch.
“Messed around with it a little bit [in 2024], just because it was the new trendy pitch and I’m sure everybody has tried it,” Anderson said. “Threw it sometimes [in 2024], nothing crazy. But it was like my second or third game where I was just like, ‘Screw it, I’m just going to throw it as much as I can.’ And I got a lot of good outcomes with it and started to get more comfortable with it.”
Anderson was neck and neck with fellow American Cody Ponce for the KBO single-season strikeout record. Anderson fell seven strikeouts short, but finished with a better strikeout rate (12.8 per nine innings) than Ponce (12.6 K/9). They could meet in the big leagues this season; Ponce signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Blue Jays last month.
“I was just going out there and doing what I could do,” Anderson said, downplaying the chase. “I was definitely keeping track of everybody in the league, but nothing like, ‘I want to beat this guy.’ He’s a pitcher, and I don’t need to beat him.”