Tim Anderson

Position: SS
Born: 6/23/1993
Ht: 6’1″ Wt: 180 lb B-T: R-R
Acquired: Drafted 1st round (17th overall) in the 2013 draft out of East Central CC (Miss.)
Career Stats

FutureSox Prospect Rankings

  • #2 – 2013 Midseason
  • #5 – 2014 Preseason
  • #2 – 2014 Midseason
  • #2 – 2015 Preseason
  • #2 – 2015 Midseason
  • #1 – 2016 Preseason

FutureSox Media

Accolades

  • Carolina League All-Star, 2014 Midseason
  • Southern League All-Star, 2015 Midseason (Top Star)
  • Southern League All-Star, 2015 Postseason
  • AL Batting Title, 2019
  • AL Silver Slugger, 2020

Scouting Report

Anderson joined a recent line of extremely athletic position players taken early in the draft by the White Sox. Anderson came out of nowhere his draft year, but he didn’t focus solely on baseball until college after playing basketball throughout high school. He didn’t even have any Division I offers out of high school.

Anderson’s pro debut at Kannapolis showed little power and he struck out in 25.9% of his plate appearances, but he more or less held his own in a tough first assignment. In 2014, his first full pro season, he had a solid .297/.323/.472 line at High-A Winston-Salem before losing significant time to a fractured right wrist. He hit over .300 in a brief Double-A stint and showed some hitting ability in the AFL. In 2015 at Double-A Birmingham (yet another aggressive assignment), Anderson took the jump in stride and posted very encouraging numbers: .312/.350/.429, with 49 steals in 62 tries, as a 21/22-year-old. He also further lowered his strikeout rate to 20.7%, and nearly doubled his walk rate… to 4.4%.

After hitting .304/.325/.409 in 55 games for Triple-A Charlotte in 2016, Anderson was promoted to Chicago. Anderson posted an OPS below .700 in both 2017 and 2018, but turned a corner after that. He won the AL batting title in 2019 (.335) and won the AL Silver Slugger at shortstop in 2020.

Anderson has oodles of athleticism and speed, a pretty strong arm and very quick hands at the plate. Power was mostly projection in the minors, and scouts and analysts differed on whether or not the long ball would be a significant part of his game. There are two big questions, the answers to which will likely dictate his future level of success. First, his selectivity at the plate leaves something to be desired. His ability to hit has been in part because he’s so quick with the bat, that it makes up for mistakes.

The other open question is defense. There are encouraging signs here, as his glove and footwork both improved noticeably in 2015. The number of scouts and analysts who predict a need to move off shortstop are now in the minority, as opposed to the other way around.