Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson

29-Year-Old ShortstopSS
Chicago White Sox
2023 Fantasy Outlook
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. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#88
ADP
$Signed a six-year, $25 million contract extension with the White Sox in March of 2017. White Sox exercised $12.5 million team option for 2023 in November of 2022. Contract includes $14 million team option for 2024.
Regains confidence at plate
SSChicago White Sox
March 16, 2023
Anderson visited Driveline immediately before spring training to work on his swing, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
Anderson got off to a scorching start in 2022 but faltered to only a .259 average and .257 wOBA across the second half of the season. That dip in production was at least in part due to a groin injury that prevented him being comfortable at the plate, though Anderson is confident he regained his form this offseason. Encouragingly, Anderson has hit well with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic, maintaining a .364 average with two extra-base hits and a stolen base.
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Batting Stats
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2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
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2021 MLB Game Log
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2020 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
64
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
15
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+36%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+40%
OPS vs LHP
2021
 
 
+4%
OPS vs LHP
2020
 
 
+131%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020vs Left 1.012 254 53 12 33 2 .369 .402 .610
Since 2020vs Right .743 861 135 21 74 34 .294 .326 .416
2022vs Left .961 61 12 2 5 0 .397 .426 .534
2022vs Right .686 290 38 4 20 13 .281 .321 .365
2021vs Left .828 143 22 4 16 2 .319 .343 .486
2021vs Right .799 408 72 13 45 16 .306 .336 .463
2020vs Left 1.629 50 19 6 12 0 .489 .540 1.089
2020vs Right .704 163 25 4 9 5 .288 .313 .391
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+3%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+3%
OPS on Road
2021
 
 
+13%
OPS at Home
2020
 
 
+8%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020Home .812 581 94 16 60 22 .318 .349 .463
Since 2020Away .790 537 94 17 47 14 .302 .335 .455
2022Home .722 189 26 2 12 6 .306 .339 .383
2022Away .747 162 24 4 13 7 .296 .340 .408
2021Home .853 285 46 9 35 13 .325 .354 .498
2021Away .757 266 48 8 26 5 .293 .320 .438
2020Home .865 107 22 5 13 3 .324 .355 .510
2020Away .936 109 22 5 8 2 .333 .367 .569
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Stat Review
How does Tim Anderson compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.25
 
BB Rate
4.0%
 
K Rate
15.7%
 
BABIP
.347
 
ISO
.093
 
AVG
.301
 
OBP
.339
 
SLG
.395
 
OPS
.734
 
wOBA
.325
 
Exit Velocity
88.2 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
28.7%
 
Barrels/PA
4.6%
 
Expected BA
.302
 
Expected SLG
.438
 
Sprint Speed
22.6 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
54.9%
 
Line Drive %
24.2%
 
Fly Ball %
20.9%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
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. 
More Fantasy News
Back in Chicago for '23
SSChicago White Sox
Hand
November 6, 2022
The White Sox exercised Anderson's (hand) $12.5 million team option for 2023 on Sunday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
ANALYSIS
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Shut down for season
SSChicago White Sox
Hand
September 27, 2022
The White Sox are shutting down Anderson (hand) for the rest of the season, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
ANALYSIS
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Could return this week
SSChicago White Sox
Hand
September 20, 2022
Anderson (hand) could return to the White Sox's lineup sometime this week, Scot Gregor of the Chicago Daily Herald reports.
ANALYSIS
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Still not ready for rehab stint
SSChicago White Sox
Hand
September 20, 2022
Anderson (hand) is not yet ready to begin a rehab assignment, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
ANALYSIS
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Swinging and fielding
SSChicago White Sox
Hand
September 16, 2022
Anderson (hand) said he has started swinging and fielding grounders, James Fegan of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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