Sometimes dreams do come true
Standing at six feet, six inches one would think Ryan Anderson would be joining the National Basketball league, but that was never Ryan’s dream. The third year University of Nevada Pitcher had his dreams come true when the New York Yankees took him in round 12 of the third day of the Major League Baseball draft. “It was pretty relieving; it had been a stressful couple weeks leading up to the draft,” said Anderson. “This just shows the last 15 years of hard work has paid off.”
When a kid grows up dreaming of playing their favorite sport it’s most often to their favorite team. Ryan can check playing for the Yankees off his bucket list as it’s his favorite team. “The goal obviously was to just get drafted but I couldn’t have pick a better franchise to be drafted by and play for.”
Ryan had little time to celebrate this huge accomplishment as the next day he was flown out to Tampa to start the process of reaching the MLB. “I was flown to Tampa for two weeks, I got a physical, I did strength training to get stronger, and then I signed from there.” Ryan would be sent to advanced rookie ball in the small town of Pulaski, Virginia.
The transition would prove to be an easy one for Ryan as he compared playing in Pulaski to playing summer baseball in college. “It is very similar to summer baseball; living out of hotels and the long days.” One of the few struggles that Ryan has found was with the vast cultures of his teammates. “A lot of my teammates are from Latin America and sometimes it can be hard understanding each other in the game.” Ryan can also contrive his easy transition to Pulaski to his time he spent at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Baseball at the University helped me develop my game and made me not only a better player, but person.”
UNR would not be a random college he chose on his way to the MLB but his home town school. Ryan grew up cheering on the Pack attending sporting events and always wearing their colors. Ryan played baseball and basketball at Spanish Springs. In his senior year Ryan earned five wins and had an ERA of 1.10 on his way to earning all first state honors and Northern Nevada pitcher of the year. This would make it an easy choice for UNR to recruit Ryan. Ryan would go on to join his mom, dad, and sister as student athletes at UNR. Ryan hopes to make his mark in major league sports like so many from UNR have done before him. “I’ve always looked up to people that make it out of Reno and have gone on to play in the pros. It’s a pretty cool opportunity to represent Reno in professional sports and I hope I’m not the last to do so.”
Ryan ended his season in Pulaski with eight starts in 11 games and an ERA of 4.78. He would show one loss and no wins in 32 innings of pitching. What’s next for Ryan? Well, time back home in Reno and a lot more baseball. “I go back to Tampa in a couple weeks for more strength training and then come home for a couple more months. I then leave in late February for minor league spring training and then in April single A baseball.”
