Cleveland Indians: Rooting for Cody Anderson in his return

Cleveland Indians pitcher Cody Anderson is back on the mound after undergoing Tommy John surgery, making him an easy player to root for in 2018.

I’m a sucker for a good comeback story and the Cleveland Indians are giving fans a great one in 2018 in the form of Cody Anderson.

The pitcher was back on a mound today for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery.

To a casual baseball fan, this is nothing special. It is just another player returning from an injury.

But just think about it for a second. Anderson had his arm fail him. The same arm that got him to the majors and was his ticket to potentially earning millions of dollars.

The thought of his arm failing him again had to be going through his mind when he threw those first pitches. Lucky for him, the surgery appears to have worked just fine.

This story strikes me as powerful because I just finished reading The Arm by Jeff Passan in which the writer details some players who underwent and came back from Tommy John surgery. Passan does an amazing job at showing just how grueling the recovery can be, and how a successful return is not always the final result.

Anderson’s return is great because of the storyline, but he is also needed. The Indians have an open spot in the bullpen and he could be the right man for the job.

A likely scenario could be Anderson starting in the minors if the team puts Mike Clevinger, Josh Tomlin or Danny Salazar in the bullpen. I hesitate to make any predictions beyond that because of the potential moves that could come to be once the season gets closer and the logjam in the rotation needs to be broken up.

For now, Anderson can rest easy knowing he is healthy and that he is essentially assured a spot in the starting rotation in Columbus. And since he has bullpen experience and is coming off the surgery, he may be a more ideal option in the bullpen than any of the three starters competing for the final two spots, or even Ryan Merritt.

Next: Rajai Davis is back

This is still the time of year where players can surprise us and earn roster spots and Anderson is a top candidate to do that with his reconstructed elbow.