Tim Anderson

It's difficult to overstate just how hard Anderson crashed and burned in 2023. The 30-year-old came into the year having slashed .318/.347/.474 over his previous four seasons. He won one batting title during that stretch and, among regulars, no one sported a higher batting average than Anderson. Last season, the shortstop fell off to an anemic .245/.286/.296 line, with his .582 OPS ranking 133rd out of 133 qualifiers. The Statcast data matched the production, with Anderson's xwOBA ranking in the bottom eighth percentile. Anderson's sprint speed also cratered to the 45th percentile, which could indicate his early-season knee issue continued to nag at him after his stint on the injured list. After the White Sox decided against picking up his $14 million option for 2024, Anderson eventually landed with the Marlins on a one-year, $5 million deal. He is expected to serve as Miami's everyday shortstop.

Anderson's 2022 season was a challenge on many levels for him, from managerial issues to the hand injury which eventually ended his season on Aug. 9. Through it all, Anderson maintained the ability to hit for a very high average as he is the only player in the league to hit over .300 in each of the previous four seasons. That skill helps him maintain a solid OBP despite an anemic walk rate that had him on pace to challenge his career high in steals from 2018. The batting-average talents are helped both by his ability to use all fields and the fact that he is one of the toughest batters in the league to strike out -- he lowered his strikeout rate nearly six full percentage points from 2021. The one downside to remember is that he has missed 30-plus games in three of the past four full seasons, having just once exceeded 150 games played. A new manager and a repaired hand should have him in a better place for 2023.

Anderson again showed a high BABIP is more than plate skills, continuing to hit line drives and flyballs with elevated exit velocity while using speed to post a .288 BABIP on grounders, nearly 50 points above league average. He also hit one infield pop all season. Anderson's 55% groundball rate also helps, though it hinders power. However, elevated exit velocity on flyballs yields double-digit pop with 20-plus homer upside. Anderson's 18 steals were second most in his career, but his 72% success rate was his lowest ever. A pair of IL stints with hamstring issues not only cost him 24 games, but also likely contributed to a dip from 92nd percentile sprint speed to a career-low 74th percentile. The market finally trusts Anderson to carry a high BABIP, so he won't come cheap, but he's an ideal target to add SB without sacrificing too many homers. Durability is his only issue, as he's played just 123 games each of his last two full seasons.

Anderson was a surprising batting champion in 2019, as his average jumped by nearly 100 points to .335, but he backed it up last year, hitting .322/.357/.529 over 49 games. His BABIP remained at a level that doesn't look particularly sustainable, falling from .399 to .383, though Statcast still gave him a quite high .293 xBA, a near match for his .296 mark from the previous season. If his actual batting average regresses to around that point next season, he'll still be quite a useful player, especially as he chips in with a respectable amount of power and speed. He homered once every 22.1 plate appearances last season, a big improvement on his mark of one every 33.8 plate appearances from his first four seasons, suggesting he could easily reach 25 homers this year while likely adding around 15 steals. He'll remain overshadowed by a deep group of top-tier shortstops, but he's not all that far behind.

Anderson led the American League in batting average in 2019, one year removed from hitting .240. Anderson pulled this off by walking even less than he did in 2018, but also did it by posting a career-best 21% strikeout rate. The biggest driver was a .399 BABIP, which needless to say, isn't repeatable. His expected batting average was 49 points below his actual batting average, so Anderson lived off his speed and the medium contact as both his hard-hit rate and his overall exit velocity were in the bottom 40th percentile. Anderson runs, but his OBP skills are completely based on his ability to reach via the batted ball as he walked 15 times in 518 plate appearances last season. You like to see growth from youngsters as they mature, but this looks more like a fluke than actual growth. There could be more power on the way, but look for an average closer to .260 than .300.

Was there a quieter 20-20 season than Anderson’s 2018 campaign? Those in on-base or points leagues may disagree considering his .281 OBP but that’s Anderson in a nutshell: the poster boy for better-in-fantasy-than-reality. Since the White Sox don’t care about Anderson’s plate skills, he’ll continue to be a fantasy asset. To be fair, the 25-year-old doubled his walk rate, to a still-poor 5% while lowering his strikeout rate to a career-best 25%. Oddly, Anderson didn’t run from the top of the order, swiping just two bags in 43 games hitting first or second while garnering 24 in 100 games from sixth to ninth. We’re in a golden age of shortstops where Anderson is largely ignored. If you have a solid batting average foundation, Anderson is a great option to boost counting stats on the cheap, with built-in upside if he continues to improve his approach and contact. His run production should also benefit from a maturing While Sox lineup.

While his approach didn't get any better in his sophomore season, Anderson chipped in across the board for fantasy owners; he was one of 28 players to go 15-15. His 0.08 K/BB was the worst among qualified hitters, and his strikeout and walk rates only got worse over the final two months, but Anderson used his speed to beat out infield hits (10.4 infield hit percentage) and he was good enough against lefties (.321/.333/.478) to post a stomachable overall batting average. Anderson's below-average 28 percent flyball rate and 28.3 percent hard-hit rate don't portend a step forward in terms of power, but he should at least get to double digits again while playing every day for the White Sox. Further, Anderson could run more from start to finish after going 10-for-11 on the basepaths in the second half.

Anderson took over the starting shortstop job last year and looks to be the long-term solution at the position. Chicago promoted Anderson after just 55 games in Triple-A when he was hitting .304 in 256 plate appearances. Anderson's track record throughout the minors has been one of few walks and a below-average strikeout rate, and that continued at the big league level as he walked once for every nine times he struck out. However, he also hit for surprising power, matching his home run output (nine) from his previous 180 minor league contests. He was able to steal 10 bases despite a low on-base percentage. The speed will help his batting average and he has consistently made quality contact throughout the minors. His BABIP has yet to be below .369 in any stop of the minors where he spent longer than two weeks.

The White Sox expedited the process of transitioning to Anderson as the club’s everyday shortstop when they declined to pick up Alexei Ramirez’s option this offseason. While Anderson is probably not quite ready for the big leagues, he may be the best internal option despite never playing above Double-A. The 17th overall pick in 2013, he slashed .312/.350/.429 with five home runs and 49 steals (on 62 attempts) in 125 games with Double-A Birmingham. An athletic toolshed, Anderson’s only flaw on offense has been his inability to take walks, although he made minor strides in that department in 2015, going from a 2.5% walk rate in 2014 to a 4.4% walk rate last year. For a player with his profile, he does a good enough job making contact, as he has kept his K-rates below 23 percent at High-A and Double-A. There is the potential for more power as he continues to mature, meaning he could offer Jose Reyes-esque production in his prime years.

Anderson is one of the more interesting position players in a budding White Sox minor league system. He was playing at Double-A Birmingham one year after the White Sox drafted him in the first round of the 2013 draft, but a fractured wrist ate six weeks of his season. Anderson showed no ill effects from the fracture, hitting .364 at Birmingham after his return, but the 21-year-old still needs to learn how to take a walk. A plus athlete who could be an efficient baserunner in the majors, Anderson figures to spend much, if not all, of the 2015 season in the minors, with a major league arrival likely in 2016.

The White Sox bucked a trend of selecting athletic outfielders with their top draft pick by selecting Anderson, an athletic shortstop, as their first pick in the 2013 amateur draft. His speed was his top skill coming into professional baseball, and he subsequently stole 24 bases in 28 attempts for Low-A Kannapolis. The strikeouts will need to come down as he moves up the system (26 percent strikeout rate in his first 300 plate appearances), but the tools are there to keep him in the middle infield. He is easily a top-five prospect in a thin organization, and his showing in 2014 will likely dictate his major league ETA.