SEATTLE — New Red Sox pitcher Chase Anderson still throws the same changeup with the same grip he learned at 13 years old.
“I haven’t changed anything. Nothing,” Anderson said before Boston’s 5-1 win over Seattle at T-Mobile Park on Sunday. “So Josh Bobbitt: shout-out to you, man. You taught me that changeup and it’s helped me a lot.”
Anderson’s late father Robert Anderson worked with Josh Bobbitt’s dad Hal at a fiberglass plant in Wichita Falls, Texas. Josh played at Tulane and spent the 1998 season pitching in the Rangers minor league system. He gave Anderson pitching lessons after their fathers connected them.
The changeup has been Anderson’s best pitch throughout his 10 seasons in the major leagues. Opponents have gone just 196-for-998 (.196 batting average) against it.
“I’m a guy that doesn’t throw upper-90s,” Anderson said. “But low-to-mid 90s with a good changeup makes the fastball play. You can throw the fastball around the zone when you have good command of an offspeed pitch. And they’ll go chase that pitch because they’re looking for something in the zone and the fastball sinks by them. So it really makes my fastball better. And there have been games throughout my career where I’ve pitched with that pitch mainly and used the fastball sporadically.”
Bobbitt took the pitching coach job at Anderson’s high school when Anderson was a senior. He now serves as associate head baseball coach at Melissa High in Texas.
Anderson’s dad died of a heart attack in 2012. Anderson continues to appreciate everything his dad did for him, including paying for those pitching lessons.
“It’s just funny how you look back on your career and connect the dots to all the people who have impacted your career in a positive way,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here without those coaches. … And obviously my dad sacrificed a lot to be able to afford to pay for those lessons because we didn’t have much money growing up. My dad always sacrificed for me and my sisters and did the best he could. I’m thankful for that because I wouldn’t be here without my dad.”
