Rockies call up veteran righty with interesting track record

When healthy, Nick Anderson has been one of the better relievers in baseball over the last several years, and the Colorado Rockies are ready for him to join their big league team this weekend.

According to a report from MiLB Central, the Rockies are calling up the right-hander Anderson ahead of the team’s series with Baltimore.

As first reported by @_chaseford … #Rockies    will be adding RHP Nick Anderson from the Triple-A @ABQTopes. The move isn't official, so there is no corresponding move yet. https://t.co/KIP0isPKkM

— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) July 24, 2025

Anderson, 35, signed a minor league contract with the Rockies earlier this season after starting with the Cardinals’ Triple-A group. His performance with the Albuquerque Isotopes won’t blow you out of the water, but he earned a call-up. For the New Mexico club, he has pitched 11.1 innings, allowing six runs on 13 hits and six walks (three intentional) with 15 strikeouts. He’s totaled a 4.76 ERA in the hitter-friendly league.

Anderson likely gets the call based on being healthy and his past track record. He’s spent five years in the majors and has pitched 158.1 innings with a 3.18 ERA, a 31.6% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. He’s good at getting hitters to swing and miss, and he’s got a career 3.18 ERA because of it.

But he’s had a ton of injury issues going back to 2020, when he pitched in the World Series for the Rays. He’s been sidelined with a shoulder strain, an internal brace procedure on his right ulnar collateral ligament, plantar fasciitis, a back strain and forearm inflammation.

The Rockies have the fifth-worst ERA in the majors this season at 4.91, and it’s ballooned to 5.87 over the last month. Jake Bird’s promising season has been derailed as of late, and the Rockies likely needed a new arm. Bird is also among a group of veterans who could be trade candidates ahead of next week’s deadline. So the team gets Anderson up ahead of any trades and will look to find something in a player who has proved it in the show before. Maybe, just maybe, the Rockies can get a Daniel Bard 2.0 situation with Anderson — where they find an overlooked arm with injury issues and help them climb back into dominance.

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