Braves GM talks Ian Anderson’s timeline to return to mound

Looking back at the Braves 2021 World Series team, there aren’t many familiar faces left in Atlanta.

Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman walked in free agency. The entire outfield — Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, and Jorge Soler — will be playing in different threads. Wild Bill Contreras was a piece of a trade that landed Sean Murphy in Atlanta.

Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and A.J. Minter are the only healthy pitchers that are still around from that championship team.

Dylan Lee and Tyler Matzek are on the roster but are recovering from major injuries. The rest either left in free agency or were traded away. One name that hasn’t been brought up in a while is Ian Anderson.

He hasn’t been the same guy since that 2021 campaign. Anderson was so bad last season that the Braves eventually optioned him to Gwinnett, and he never returned.

The hope was for him to wipe the slate clean and get his mentals right, but it was more than just intangible struggles. He was shut down in 2022 with an oblique injury and then hit the IL last season with an elbow injury, eventually needing Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL.

During the Winter Meetings in Nashville, Alex Anthopoulos revealed the expected timeline for Anderson to return to the mound around June.