🔥 HOT NEWS: The Phillies’ overlooked former prospect explodes in the KBO, racking up a jaw-dropping statistic nobody saw coming ⚡.DD
He struck out how many?
Sometimes players actually find the grass greener after leaving Major League Baseball to play overseas. That has been precisely the case for former Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Drew Anderson after joining the Korea Professional Baseball League (KBO) in recent years.
During the 2025 season, Anderson posted a mind-boggling stat that no one would have envisioned during his time in North America. In Cy Young-like fashion, the 31-year-old right-hander recorded a whopping 245 strikeouts in just 171 2/3 innings over 30 starts for the SSG Landers.
Former Phillies prospect Drew Anderson is a strikeout machine in KBO
That type of performance certainly came as a surprise, since Anderson was never known as a strikeout machine during his time in the Phillies system and in MLB. He always averaged less than a strikeout per inning whether at the minor or major league level. The same was true during his stint in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Hiroshima Carp.
However, with the Landers, Anderson has now posted back-to-back 150-plus strikeout seasons, at a rate close to 1.4 strikeouts per inning. In total, the former Phillies prospect has compiled a 23-10 record with a stellar 2.91 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, along with an unfathomable 403 strikeouts in just 287 1/3 innings over 54 games.
Looking back to his time with the Phillies, Anderson’s numbers were a far cry from what we have witnessed in the KBO.
The 2012 21st-round pick may have worked his way into being a solid pitching prospect with intriguing potential through Philadelphia’s minor league system, but he was never highly ranked. He reached No. 22 in MLB Pipeline’s Phillies Top 30 in 2017 and then No. 25 in 2018. But any success Anderson had failed to translate to the major league level in his limited opportunities.
In the end, Anderson managed to get into only nine games with the Phillies, posting a dismal 7.71 ERA and 1.81 WHIP, giving up 18 earned runs with nine walks and 19 strikeouts in 21 innings. He finished his MLB career with a less-than-stellar 6.50 ERA and 1.58 WHIP, with 30 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings split between the Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and Texas Rangers.
Perhaps with his newfound strikeout ability and success in the KBO, Anderson may have all of a sudden earned himself another potential look in MLB. That could ultimately even include his former team in the Phillies, who are also looking for pitching help and depth this offseason.
