Thanks to a multitude of injuries to the Rockies' pitching staff, Anderson finally got his first chance to pitch in the big leagues after being a first-round draft pick in the star-studded 2011 first year player draft.  The left-hander was expected to be a little rusty considering he missed all of 2015 with an elbow injury, and was not expected to perform overly well given the fact that he had never pitched above Double-A in his career.  However, Anderson quickly proved why the Rockies spent a first-round selection on him in the first place.

Anderson began his 2016 campaign on the disabled list.  Once he came off the DL, he quickly dominated the Double-A and Triple-A levels, posting an excellent 2.00 ERA and 1.07 WHIP while posting a strikeout rate close to his career-best mark over 27 minor league innings following his activation.

The good times didn't stop there, though.  Through three starts after the Rockies called him up to the majors, the 26-year-old holds a 2.55 ERA and 1.19 WHIP while also posting a personal-best 9.2 K/9 and walking only three batters in that span.  The more impressive part, though, is that he hasn't allowed a single home run in his three major league starts despite two of his starts coming at the hitters' paradise known as Coors Field.  That park is typically the bane of any Rockies pitcher's existence, but it seems that Anderson's extreme groundball tendencies (4.71 GB/FB rate) are nullifying what is usually a major disadvantage.

Anderson's next two projected starts could pose a decent challenge: a home matchup with the Blue Jays, followed by a road trip to spacious AT&T Park to square off against the first-place Giants.  Despite this, the former first-rounder seems to be running on all cylinders right now and is ready to show the world why he was drafted in the same round as aces Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, and Jose Fernandez.

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