Frank Anderson is the common thread for a new era of Colorado Rockies pitching.

Two of their most promising young arms — starter Chase Dollander and closer Seth Halvorsen — are University of Tennessee products who give Anderson, the Volunteers’ longtime pitching coach, significant credit for reaching the Major Leagues.

Halvorsen: “Frank Anderson was a huge help for me at Tennessee. He’s great. He kept it really simple.”

Dollander: “I love him to death. He’s like family to me.”

Anderson requires little introduction for longtime college baseball fans.

He won national championships on staff at Texas (2002) and Tennessee (2024) as one of the NCAA’s most respected pitching coaches. He also spent nine years as the head coach at Oklahoma State (2004-12). His son, Brett Anderson, developed into a second-round draft pick who played in 13 MLB seasons — including 2014 with the Rockies.

“I need to look because I’m getting close to about 50 pitchers that have pitched in the big leagues,” Anderson told The Denver Gazette in a recent phone interview.

Dollander is the most recent Anderson pupil to make his MLB debut.

Last week, the hard-throwing right-hander threw 79 pitches over five innings with six strikeouts against the Athletics at Coors Field. His four-seam fastball topped out at 99.3 mph. Dollander gave up four earned runs on seven hits. But a rare showing of Colorado offense propped him up in a 12-5 win.

Dollander has joined the rotation full-time with Austin Gomber injured (shoulder) for several weeks. Anderson recalled the 2022 college baseball season when Dollander transferred from Georgia Southern to Tennessee to jump start his meteoric rise on the mound.

“We made a couple of physical changes in his delivery when he first got here. But most of his deal was: You need to understand that you have special gifts. You can beat people with your fastball and your secondary stuff is getting better every day,” Anderson said. “We started going with the mantra: ‘This is my stuff. I’m gonna throw it over the plate and you need to deal with it.’ … His sophomore year, he was the SEC Pitcher of the Year. He was just electric. It was crazy how good he was and how he approached every game.”

Halvorsen debuted for the Rockies last season.

His first MLB save, in his ninth appearance, resulted from a 100.2 mph fastball that struck out Dodgers infielder Max Muncy. Halvorsen is expected to split the closer role with teammate Victor Vodnik to begin the year. Halvorsen recorded a save in his first 2025 appearance against the Rays.

The 25-year-old grew up in Minnesota as their Gatorade Player of Year in 2018. Halvorsen was a two-way star. But he later underwent Tommy John Surgery amid transferring from Missouri to Tennessee.

“The quickest way I think to the Major Leagues is as a reliever,” Anderson said. “(Halvorsen) was athletic. He had a great mentality for competing. So, I thought that would probably be his best path. His arm was resilient. The guy was just strong as a bull. His ability to come back day after day. … He’s taken what we’ve done for him and just ran with it.”

Anderson credits much of his coaching success to guiding pitchers through adversity. He said that “you’re going to get punched in the mouth” and “you need to be able to make adjustments on the fly.” Dollander and Halvorsen took those lessons to heart.

“His resume speaks for itself. He’s put countless people in the big leagues,” Dollander told The Denver Gazette. “That was a huge part of my decision to go to Tennessee. Besides the baseball part, he’s just a great human being.”

Halvorsen added: “As a pitcher, he helped me with my mindset a lot. Then just mechanically as well. He was really helpful.”

Anderson understands the challenge of pitching at high altitude. He’s confident in the ability of his former players to succeed at Coors Field.

“I watched Chase the other day because I was curious,” Anderson said. “The curveball is still nice, the slider worked fine, the cutter that he has now, the fastball still plays up in the zone. … Those are two power arms. Don’t overthink that thing. It’s still baseball.”