Orioles 2024 second-round pick Ethan Anderson has been doing well so far at High-A Aberdeen, hitting .250/.357/.345 with one home run and 14 RBIs in 24 games for the IronBirds this season.
Anderson, 21, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but didn’t stay there long. He was mostly raised in Virginia Beach but also had stops in Boston, Tampa, Italy and Portugal.
“My dad was in the Navy, so I grew up all over the place, but I don’t remember [Hawaii] at all. We were there for a year, so I have no memories of it,” Anderson said on Glenn Clark Radio May 1. “I know in Delmarva on the scoreboard, it would put hometown Honolulu, Hawaii. Everyone’s asking me about it. I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s just not true.'”
Anderson ended up playing college ball at the University of Virginia from 2021-2024. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound catcher finished top 10 in program history in doubles (58), home runs (28), runs scored (173) and total bases (373). His nomadic childhood helped him develop as a ballplayer.
“Traveling around there was a point where I went to five different schools in five years. That’s five new baseball teams,” Anderson said. “You’re around a bunch of different coaches. You really learn how to pick what you think is going to make you successful.”
Anderson wasn’t the only Virginia player drafted by the Orioles in 2024. The club also selected shortstop Griff O’Ferrall with the No. 32 pick. O’Ferrall plays for the IronBirds as well.
“We didn’t know each other going into college, both being from Virginia, but we became close friends our freshman year,” Anderson said. “We weren’t roommates, but we ended up rooming sophomore and junior year. We were talking up until the draft — going to the [MLB Draft Combine] together, hanging out. Up until draft day, we were talking. I think Griff brought it up. He’s like, ‘What if we go to the same team?'”
Anderson only played five games with the IronBirds toward the end of the end of 2024 season, but he believes that has helped him play well this year.
“It was only for a week. I think there were four or five of us that got called up the last week,” Anderson said. “It was just kind of right before the offseason started, got a little taste of High-A, got to see what Aberdeen was like, kind of understand what the competition’s like and start planning for it in the offseason so it’s not new to me or any of us once we get the season going in ’25.”
Anderson isn’t thinking about competing with other catches in the organization. He is instead focusing on playing the best he can rather than focusing on others.
“[The Orioles] have had a great success rate with developing catchers. There’s a ton in the org,” Anderson said. “You’ve got Adley [Rutschman] on the major league club, but I don’t think about that. You just try to become the best prospect you can. They tell us you’re playing for 30 teams. It might not be the Orioles that you come up with. You might get traded. But I’m just trying to think about playing for the team that I’m on right now.”
For more from Anderson, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Jackie Kozloski