DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers made their first move ahead of the MLB trade deadline on Monday night, sending Robbie Grossman to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor league pitcher Kris Anglin.
Grossman will be a free agent at the end of this season, and he wasn’t playing well anyway. So it makes sense that the Tigers only received a low-profile prospect in return.
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Last year, Al Avila managed to get Reese Olson from the Milwaukee Brewers while giving up just Daniel Norris. Could Anglin become a similarly pleasant surprise?
Background
Anglin has only been in professional baseball for about a calendar year. He was drafted by the Braves in July 2021 with a 16th round pick.
The soon-to-be 21-year-old was selected out of Howard College in Big Spring, Texas, which is the same school that produced former Tigers outfielder Tyler Collins.
Anglin was born in Bakersfield, California, and attended Frontier High School in his hometown.
He’s a left-handed starting pitcher listed at 5 feet, 11 inches and 175 pounds.
Minor league results
The Braves gave Anglin a small taste of professional ball after the draft last season, allowing him to throw 11.1 innings across five games in the Florida Complex League. He allowed three earned runs on six hits and six walks while striking out 15 batters.
He started this year with the Single-A Augusta GreenJackets, but struggled to the tune of a 5.93 ERA and 1.549 WHIP. He struck out 36 batters in 30.1 innings, but also issued 19 walks.
One positive for Anglin at Single-A: He induced swings and misses on 14% of his pitches, which suggests he has raw stuff good enough to get out professional hitters.
Anglin was demoted back to rookie ball at the end of June. In five games with the FCL Braves, he’s posted a 2.86 ERA and a 1.273 WHIP. The walk rate dropped dramatically over that span, but the strikeouts were down, too.
In his most recent start Thursday (July 28), Anglin tossed five shutout innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven batters.
What to expect
Since Anglin is at 52.1 innings pitched this season, the Tigers will likely send him to Single-A Lakeland or rookie ball to get a little more work in front of his new organization.
Even if he succeeds, Anglin doesn’t turn 21 until Aug. 9, so he’s a long ways away from putting on the Old English D.
The Tigers have shown a good eye for under-the-radar pitchers, such as Olson, Garrett Hill, and Beau Brieske. Even Tarik Skubal was a ninth-round pick. At the very least, that makes Anglin someone to monitor going forward.