Ian Anderson gives up one run in his 2025 spring training debut

The 26-year-old right-hander looked to get his spring started on a good note as the Braves had their spring home opener today.

The Atlanta Braves had their spring training home opener today at CoolToday Park and it was a very intriguing occasion, indeed — all eyes were on Ian Anderson as he made his spring training debut for the year as he looks to lock down a rotation spot going forward.

The good news for Ian Anderson is that he’ll have his fair share of chances to build upon what he did here against the Rays. The first inning in particular was a solid one as he didn’t give up any hits but he did walk Yandy Díaz, though. Still, Anderson picked up a strikeout (with a good-looking slider) on his way to racking up a scoreless inning to start the game.

The second inning is where we saw Ian Anderson run into the same problems that usually both him whenever he’s struggling: Control. Anderson led off the inning by walking Junior Caminero before giving up a single to Curtis Mead. After Caminero tagged up to get to third on a fly ball, he ended up making it home after Kameron Misner delivered a productive out to put the Rays on the board. Anderson then walked Carson Williams and that was the end of his day.

Here’s more about that productive out: It would’ve been a base hit if not for a really slick play by Eli White to help keep the ball from going into the outfield. Sure, the run scored but that’s still a very nice play to make and the type of thing that usually tends to catch the right set eyes during spring training.

So while Ian Anderson’s stuff still looked perfectly fine while he was out there, the walks are still a big concern for him going forward. If he can nip that in the bud then I’d say he’ll have as good of a chance as anybody to make the Opening Day roster. If this continues in the games then that may become a longshot of an idea for Anderson. Either way, today’s performance is something to build upon and hopefully he’ll continue to improve going forward.

After Jake McSteeen finished off the second inning, it was Grant Holmes’ turn to get his first spring training game action. Holmes eventually finished with two innings under his belt and a strikeout but he did give up a big fly while he was out there. With two outs during his first inning of work, Junior Caminero cam to the plate and crushed one to left center field to make it a 2-0 game for Tampa Bay at that point. (Side note: Caminero’s home run trot today was a lot less cooler than the one he had during that epic Game 7 of the LIDOM Championship Series.)

The next inning for Holmes went swimmingly, though. He struck out Kameron Misner to lead off the inning and then got the next two outs in short order to finish his outing for the day. Holmes finished with two innings pitched, two hits allowed, one earned run (the aforementioned dinger) and one strikeout. This wasn’t a shutdown outing but other than the home run, this was good stuff from Grant Holmes here.

When it comes to what was going on at the plate, there’s not much to talk about! Eli White added a hit and a walk onto the nifty defensive play that he made, so he had himself a productive time while he was out there. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet day at the plate — especially for the regulars, as the only one of the five regulars who started today’s game to get a base hit was Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna laced one out to right to lead off the second inning and that was the lone hit between Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Ozuna, Michael Harris II and Orlando Arcia on the day.

The first run of the day for Atlanta came on a solo shot from Sandy León all the way in the eighth inning of this one. León sent one that floated deep to right-center for a solo homer off of Trevor Martin that put the Braves on the board. León is an extremely long shot to make the Opening Day roster considering the situation that the Braves currently have going on at catcher so I’m not going to say that this is going to be huge for León’s hopes of making said roster. Still, it’s always nice to see balls flying over the fence at any point in spring training, so this was nice to see.

The Braves added on another in the ninth inning as non-roster invitee Conner Capel doubled home a speedy Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. to make it a two-run game. Nick Allen grounded out to end the game as the Braves sadly fell to 0-2 in the Grapefruit League here in 2025.

So while this wasn’t exactly a banner day, it’s always a good day when a spring training game comes and goes without any sort of major injury. Both Ian Anderson and Grant Holmes will have more chances to impress going forward and the offense will likely get going sooner rather than later. The next chance they’ll get will be on the road against the Orioles tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. ET, as Reynaldo López will be making his first start of spring as the Braves continue their preparations for the regular season.