LOS ANGELES — After the most recent start of his breakout 2022 season, Tyler Anderson was asked if he'd just completed the best three-month stretch of his career.
"I don't know," the Dodgers left-hander said. "You probably know better than I do."
It has been. And Saturday, it got even better.
Anderson was named to his first career All-Star team, picked by the National League as a replacement for Giants pitcher Carlos Rodón, who will be inactive for next week's event at Dodger Stadium.
Anderson hadn't been generating much All-Star buzz prior to the announcement — for most of the season, Julio Urías appeared to be the next most likely Dodgers pitcher to get the nod — but his numbers certainly make his selection deserving.
He is 10-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 17 games, 15 of them starts. He has thrown 97 1/3 innings, most on the team. And he has mastered a refined change-up since signing a one-year contract with the Dodgers this spring, transforming the journeyman pitcher with a career 4.62 ERA entering the season into one of the most productive starters in the majors.
Yes, his best three months indeed.
Anderson is the Dodgers' fifth selection to this year's All-Star Game, joining pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Tony Gonsolin, and starting position players Mookie Betts and Trea Turner. The game will take place Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers are tied for having the third-most representatives in baseball, trailing only the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves, who each have six.
Long before he became a late All-Star addition, Anderson was a late pickup for the Dodgers this spring.
A former first-round pick who'd played with four organizations over his first six major league seasons, the crafty left-hander initially seemed like just a depth addition for the Dodgers, who decided to use him as a bulk reliever out of the bullpen early in the season.
But after a mid-April injury to Andrew Heaney and the loss of several other rotation members in the months that followed, Anderson was handed a starting spot and ran with it.
In May, he carried a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals. In early June, he had a 28-inning scoreless streak that included three consecutive scoreless starts. A month ago, he lost a no-hitter in the ninth against the Angels (though a scoring change days later charged him with a hit in the seventh inning).
He's completed at least five innings in all but two of his 15 starts. And after giving up four runs in three of his last four outings in June, he has responded with a 1.86 ERA in three July outings — including six scoreless innings his last time out Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"It's just fun that we're winning games," Anderson said that night. "That's what I've said the whole time, you want to be part of a team that wins. And to be able to come over here and have a team that's in first place and winning a bunch of games is always fun."
Though Anderson didn't want to admit it himself, his All-Star-caliber production has been a big reason why.
