Tim still making Chisox fans flip
2018 against Tampa Bay. He had walked a total of three batters in his four previous starts.
“I feel like I don’t walk a lot of guys, but when I do, they are coming around and finding a way to score,” Happ said. “I got to find a way to bear down and get through those innings. Missed spots a couple times in the fifth and got hurt on it.”
Garcia then delivered the final dagger.
Down 0-2, he started fouling off pitches — he fouled off five, two-strike pitches before Ottavino flipped him a slider over the plate.
“I give a lot of credit to him, for fighting me and getting me in that spot,” Ottavino said. “I didn’t want to walk him, gave him a pretty good pitch to hit and he didn’t miss it.”
At least hitting help should be coming soon. Stanton was heading to Durham, N.C., on Thursday to join the Triple-A Scranton Railriders. The slugger is finally through his injury issues and ramping up to possibly resume his 2019 season on Tuesday.
“We’ll see if he gets through the weekend all right, if he does, he’ll probably play all three games, so I don’t know if we’d activate him Monday,” Boone said. “He’ll probably have to have an off day, but maybe Tuesday.”
Behind Stanton, but definitely on the same track now, is Judge, who could be joining the Triple-A team this weekend. Judge began facing live pitching Thursday and his stint in Triple-A will be longer, Boone said. Days after Tim Anderson’s bat flipped the baseball world upside down, he demonstrated that he had every intention to stay in the center of the baseball universe.
Not a full 24 hours passed until Anderson, who is black, was suspended for his use of the n-word after getting pegged by Royals pitcher Brad Keller, the 25-year-old shortstop published his highlight-reel play that year into a video mixtape on his Twitter account.
Anderson’s dramatic home runs and stylish celebrations weren’t the only notable part of his video.
His dramatic home runs and stylish celebrations were backed up by “Clout,” a popular song from hip hop artist Offset. Like most rap music, the trap single featured a black artist liberally using the nword, without inhibition. There was nothing Keller, the umpires, nor Major League Baseball could do about it.
The White Sox have not made the playoffs since 2008, and in 2018, lost 100 games, their worst total in nearly 50 years. This year, they’re not contenders, but they’re competitive, coming into the series against the Yankees with a 32-34 record. Anderson’s .314 average has been vital to their upswing, and the 25-year-old shortstop’s swagger is essential to the game’s long-term appeal. His body of work has earned starting All-Star consideration. He ranks fourth in votes among AL shortstops.
However, while the White Sox continue to hang in the outer-fringes of the American League Wild Card hunt, Anderson’s play on the field has lagged as the season has progressed.
On April 17, the day Anderson admired his 418-foot home run a little too much for Keller’s tastes, he was averaging .424 on the young season. Since then, he’s hitting an empty .274 with just five home runs. Always a hacker at the plate, Anderson has zero walks in June.
To be clear, unless Ted Williams ascends from his cryogenic chamber to give him some hitting tips, no one should expect Anderson, or anybody else, to sustain a .400 batting average for long. But his offensive game since April has been the only ordinary thing about him.
There are reasons to believe more mixtapes are coming. A basketball standout at Hillcrest High Schooll in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Anderson didn’t play high school baseball until he was a junior. He is not a product of expensive travel teams or elite training facilities, but a natural talent still doing the hard work of translating his athletic talent into on-field baseball skills.
On the whole, Anderson’s still hitting the ball much, much harder than he used to. His hard-hit percentage, which measures exactly what it sounds like it does, is at 39.3% for the season, up nearly 12 points from last year. He’s swinging and missing less, too, striking out about 5% less than he did in 2018 overall and making more contact against hard and soft stuff. He’s getting fooled less and making pitchers pay, no matter what kind of pitch they throw. Anderson is still getting better, even in a slump.
Pulling the ball as he did earlier in the season could also unleash his power potential. Back in March and April, Anderson pulled more than 40% of the time, a number that dipped to 29% in May and cratered to around 22% during his nine games in June.
Regardless, if Anderson merely replicates his streaky play through the rest of the year, he’ll finish with his best full season by far and match or surpass his career highs in average, home runs, runs batted in, and on-base percentage. Reaching base more opened up his base-stealing game, as he’s on pace for 37 steals, which would also be a personal best.
Whether he makes the All-Star game or not, maintaining his current season will at least keep him on the fringes of All-Star worthiness. That’s enough to remain relevant, even when he’s not tweeting (or subtweeting) the powers that be.
If Anderson can smooth out his streakiness and channel his talent into consistency, he can be a bonafide star, cementing his status as a household name for his contributions to the diamond and advancing the culture of the sport he’s made his home. That’s something baseball sorely needs.
It’s also necessary to accomplish what Anderson has set out to do — make the game fun, for him and his fans. He doesn’t need to swing like Ted, strut like Barry or run like Rickey. Being unapologetically Tim was enough to capture attention. Staying good will keep it.