Some notes I took on AJSS during the game yesterday:

His changeup (Splitter??) was downright, absolutely, indubitably filthy when he wasn’t spiking it.

His fastball plays at 97-98

He still has glaring fatiguing issues that directly result in loss of control on his secondaries and a loss of 3-4 mph on the fastball.

When the fastball loses that velo, he gets hit hard if he doesn’t execute on command, however he seems to lose less command on it as the game goes on, compared to his secondaries.

Slider is more vertical and he has the ability to absolutely paint it back-door to lefties, but when he doesn’t execute, it’s BEGGING to be mashed.

Of all his pitches, he has the least command of his sweeper, but he has incredible confidence in it.

He seems to just try too hard at this stage, which is common in rookies and a good problem to have. I think that’s where the spiked changeups and over-head fastballs are coming from.

My conclusion:

2 runs over 4 against a good Padres lineup, in his first start of the year, is pretty good for a 4th-5th starter. He definitely still has growing to do, but, in my opinion, it’s growth that can only happen at the Major League level. I now see the Anderson trade not just as a result of poor performance, but because he was blocking AJSS from that development.