Shen's Anderson named to Team USA 18U squad

PHOTOGRAPHER: USA Baseball

Ian Anderson of Rexford and Shenendehowa High School throws a pitch during a tryout for the USA Baseball 18U national team on Wednesday in Fullerton, Calif.

All summer, Ian Anderson has traveled around the United States, daring the country’s best baseball players to take their hacks against his 94 mph fastball. Some swung, others looked — but the end result was usually the same: an umpire signaling Anderson’s latest punchout.

Now, the 17-year-old from Rexford is about to get the chance to show off his stuff on the international level.

Anderson, a rising senior at Shenendehowa, was selected today to the USA Baseball 18U national team after the conclusion of several rounds of tryouts. The final tryout finished up today in Fullerton, Calif., with a game in which Anderson, a right-handed pitcher, recorded five strikeouts in two scoreless innings.

The 18U national team will play in the 2015 WBSC 18U Baseball World Cup in Japan, which starts Aug. 27. Before that tournament, Anderson will head with Team USA to Taiwan for a series of exhibition games that start Aug. 24.

Anderson, who has established himself this summer as a Top Five baseball prospect in the Class of 2016, is one of 20 players to make up this year’s USA Baseball 18U national team.

The selection caps a wild five-day stretch for Anderson, which started Saturday when he was was named the Baseball America Pitcher of the Year at the Perfect Game All-American Classic Awards Banquet at the San Diego Hall of Champions. A day later, Anderson competed in Perfect Game’s all-star showcase game, striking out two while tossing a scoreless inning in a contest featuring the country’s top prep players that was broadcast on the MLB Network.

During his 2015 high school season, Anderson went 6-1 with a 0.66 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 53 1⁄3 innings across 11 appearances. Nationally, he was an American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings High School All-America third-team selection; locally, he was recognized as the Suburban Council Pitcher of the Year.