Stars & Stripes: Anderson, Cahill To Beijing

On Wednesday, USA Baseball announced the final Olympic roster for Team USA and two of the Oakland A's top pitching prospects made the final cut. Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson will be looking to bring home the gold for the US.

Since the start of the 2008 season, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson have formed a dynamic twosome, first in the High-A Stockton Ports’ rotation and then in the Double-A Midland Rockhounds’ rotation. Now the two 20-year-old pitching phenoms will be teaming up to take on the world in the 2008 Olympic Games, as Team USA has named both to the US Olympic baseball squad. The Olympic Games are scheduled for Beijing, China, this August.

Anderson is one of the top young lefties in the minors.

Cahill, the Oakland A’s top pick in 2006 (second round), is currently the minor league leader in strike-outs with 122 in 108.1 innings for Stockton and Midland. The right-hander struck-out two batters in the MLB Futures Game on Sunday at Yankee Stadium. He has a 9-4 record with a 2.66 ERA in 18 appearances this season. Cahill has held opposing batters to a .166 average and has allowed only four homeruns all season.

Anderson, who was acquired as part of the Dan Haren trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks this past off-season, is also among the minor league leaders in strike-outs with 96 in 85 innings, despite missing about 10 days with a sprained thumb earlier in the year. The lanky lefty has a 10-4 record and a 3.81 ERA in 17 appearances this season. He has held opposing batters to a .237 average. Since being promoted to Double-A in late June, Anderson has struck-out 16 in 11 innings. He also threw a scoreless frame at the Futures Game this past weekend.

A’s Minor League Pitching Coordinator Gil Patterson sees a bright future ahead for the duo.

“They can do all of the things that major league pitchers do. For the most part, they just need to keep getting out there and pitching. But when you put on paper what does someone have to do [to be a major league pitcher], in the starter’s role, they have to command usually three pitches and they can – a fastball, change-up and breaking ball,” Patterson said.

“They can throw breaking balls behind in the count for strikes. They can throw it ahead in the count for pitches that look like strikes and then they are balls and they can throw change-ups. Cahill has a dive-bombing sinker and Anderson has two very good breaking balls. They pitch in. They are both mentally tough.”

The Olympic baseball games will be held at Wukesong Baseball Stadium in Beijing. The first game for Team USA will be on August 13th against Korea. The rest of the Team USA roster can be found at this link.