By STEVE CORNELIUS, CJ Sports Editor
Louisville — Joe Garagiola might have coined the phrase ‘baseball is a funny game’, but local professional baseball player Josh Anderson’s career is living proof.
Nine years in the business playing on four major league teams and just as many minor league teams, Anderson has learned to expect the unexpected.
After signing, for what he thought would be his dream job playing for the Cincinnati Reds, he now finds himself back in Louisville with the Triple-A Louisville Bats, and probably wondering if he will ever get to wear the ‘red and white’ uniform of Cincinnati.
“I signed on with the Reds thinking I had a spot on their roster,” Anderson said. “I went to spring training and wasn’t really given a full blown opportunity to win a spot on their roster. But here I am now, I am thankful to have a job in Triple-A, in a good city with a bunch of good guys.”
“Signing with Cincinnati was a special time because I grew up watching the Reds pay,” Anderson explained. “From the time I was five or six years old, I became a Reds fan and obviously my first major league game as a spectator was at Cincinnati because it was close to my house.”
“Getting to play for a team that you grew up rooting for is kind of a special thing,” Anderson said as a lifetime Reds fan.
But as a savvy professional career-minded baseball player he followed up with, “Although I love the Reds, I would be happy to play for any Major League team.”
Just as surprising that he didn’t get a chance to make the Reds’ roster, Anderson was even more surprised that he was let go by the Royals earlier this winter.
“This winter I waited to see what my offers were going to be and where I was going to play,” Anderson explained. “When last season ended, I had expected to be going back to Kansas City because I was still on their roster.”
“November, which is typically the month a lot of teams make moves, I got a call from the general manager that they wanted to take me off the roster and basically sign me back as a minor league free agent.”
“I wanted to think about it, but they wanted me to think about it pretty quick and sign within a week of when they told me,” Anderson explained.
“So, I decided to become a free agent and try with somebody else and maybe crack a major league roster.”
That offer came in the form of a call form his childhood favorite team —the Cincinnati Reds. But Anderson quickly found out his future with the Reds organization was going to be with the Louisville Bats.
And since his first appearance in the major leagues back in 2007 with the Houston Astros, Anderson knows another big league opportunity could re-appear overnight.
“Being called up to the majors can happen any moment because of injuries and stuff, and you don’t have to be setting the world of fire to be called up,” Anderson said. “If your playing good that is great, but you never know when you are going to get your chance. You never know. There are changes on the big league rosters that affect the Triple-A rosters like a domino effect.”
Since putting on the Triple-A Bats’ uniform, Anderson is off to a rough start offensively. In only five games played, Anderson is 2-for-21 with an 0.95 bating average. However, Anderson knows it is early in the season and he will quickly turn his batting average around for the good.
“I just have to keep hanging in there and battling,” Anderson reasoned. “I don’t think there is anything mechanically I am doing wrong. I just need to ride this wave out that is happening now and just put up some good at bats. I am just going to go up there each time and just go at it pitch-to-pitch and get some good solid at bats. If you keep working the counts, keep working the pitchers and keep waiting for good pitches to hit, then eventually good things will happen.”
“Right now, I don’t want to throw away any at bats and I know I can raise may average to .300 or .400 with just a couple of at bats,” Anderson explained. “I have just got to be patient with it and take each at bat one at a time.”
Throughout is professional career, Anderson has remained positive and has always been thankful for the opportunities given to him by playing baseball for a living. However, he is somewhat frustrated with the lack of communication given to players, like himself, who are trying to work their way into the big leagues.
“I have received no communication from the organization about me ever playing for the Reds,” Anderson stated. “At least from my experience, communication is the one downfall with major league baseball. I have received no communication and that is tough as a baseball player. You try to perform to your best and try to make it into the big leagues, but the whole communication thing is not there. You don’t know what to expect or what they are thinking or what their plans are for you. Vary rarely have I heard of an organization telling players were they stand. There may be a couple of organizations where the general manager tells them what might be going on and what they are thinking. But for the most part, the communication has not been there and that is one of the things I hate about baseball — you never know where you stand.”
“All you can do is play and you have to be a self-motivator,” Anderson said.
Despite his trials and tribulations of trying to break into the major leagues, Anderson is extremely happy with his family’s present location.
“It is great to be back in Kentucky and being so close to home and even if I were to go back to Cincinnati, I am not having to uproot my family for a long distance move,” Anderson explained. “I think anytime a club is close to a Triple-A team, it makes it easier for the player, and definitely easier on the family.”
“I’ve had some time in the major leagues, but would I have liked to had more time — absolutely,” Anderson said. “I have been thankful for the times I have got to play in the big leagues. The one thing I have learned playing in the big leagues is that I need to continue to play the game that got me there in the first place. My whole objective is to get to the major leagues and stay there as long as you can. I have been in the game 8 or 9 years now and I kind of know what to expect from both sides. I am thankful for the time I got to play in the big leagues, It has helped me with my maturity and it has given me the confidence and mindset that I can play in the majors.”
“I know what to do (at the major league level) to stay there and I know what to do at (the minor league level) to get back to the majors.”
