Drew Anderson's shocking scoreless streak has Tigers fans ready to eat their words

When it looked like all the Tigers were going to add to their pitching staff were veteran Kenley Jansen and KBO returner Drew Anderson, fans were perplexed and pretty annoyed.

Jansen's addition was received well almost unanimously, but if the Tigers thought that they could call it a day on the rotation after getting Anderson — not even the best starter coming back from Korea this offseason — fans were certain they had another think coming.

He signed a $7 million deal for 2026 with a $10 million club option for 2027. It's far from outrageous money, but to spend it on an experiment when they'd previously been connected to the likes of Ranger Suárez?

Of course, the rotation has come together beautifully since Anderson's signing. The Tigers went and got Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander. It pushed Anderson to a swingman bullpen role and reduced outrage to a shrug.

But Anderson very well might be the best reliever in Tigers spring training right now. Through four games (with one start), he's pitched 11 innings and has yet to allow a single earned run.

Drew Anderson extends spring training scoreless streak to 11 after Tigers fans criticized his signing

In his last outing against the Twins on Wednesday, Anderson generated seven whiffs on 22 swings, for 31.8% whiff rate. He has 14 strikeouts to just two walks in his 11 innings so far.

We know that AJ Hinch is gleeful right now.

If Anderson can be the right-handed counterpart to Tyler Holton, the Tigers will have a very powerful, Swiss army knife kind of duo in the bullpen. Holton has appeared every which way for Detroit over the past few years, and with Anderson's experience as a starter combined with his ramp up as a reliever in spring training, he'll do much of the same: open games, eat middle innings, maybe even rack up a couple of saves.

While we wouldn't buy the idea that this was always the plan, if Anderson can translate his spring training success to the major leagues, it's a huge win for the Tigers. It gives their already very versatile bullpen that much more of a capacity for unpredictability.

We'll save a full apology for after Anderson pitches a few meaningful innings in the regular season, but for now, we'll offer half of one and keep our fingers crossed that this success is sustainable.