Chicago White Sox: Is Tim Anderson finally realizing his potential?

Despite the slow start to the season for the White Sox, Tim Anderson is showing signs that he may finally be realizing his vast potential.

In his first two seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Tim Anderson flashed his athletic ability and talent at times but struggled to find consistency. This was especially evident last season as he never really seemed comfortable or confident.

But it’s a new season and with that comes a clean slate. And Anderson seems to be relishing that.

He looks like a completely different player to start the 2018 season. He looks confident and has a swagger about him that wasn’t always present over his first two seasons.

Some of that has to do with the fact that he spent a lot of the 2017 season dealing with personal issues off the field that admittedly took a toll on him and impacted his play on the field.

The numbers reflected that.

To be clear, his inability to get on base has been the most glaring issue since coming into the league in 2016 as evidenced by his career .290 OBP. After finishing 2016 with a paltry .306 OBP, things got even worse last year as he finished at a .276 clip.

And for a guy whose speed is his best asset, that simply doesn’t work.

While his 2017 power numbers (17 HR, 56 RBI) were encouraging, his 2.1% walk percentage and 26.7% strikeout percentage (per Fangraphs) were not. In fact, over his first 1,000 plate appearances in the league, Anderson walked a total of 26 times.

Let that sink in.

With the pop that he has in his bat, there is little doubt that he is going to put up solid power numbers throughout his career. What the Chicago White Sox want to see is him on the base paths more often.

And while it’s a small sample size, so far this season he is doing just that.

Through 12 games and 49 plate appearances, Anderson has already drawn four walks. That’s one-third of his total from all of last season.

He is now on pace for just under 50 walks this season. And this is where Anderson’s speed comes into play. He can wreak havoc on the base paths.

To this point in his short career he has stolen 31 bases in 34 attempts which pencils out to 91%. The percentage is outstanding, but now the White Sox would like to see more opportunities.

Tim Anderson: first #WhiteSox player with 6+ stolen bases through team's first 10 games of a season since John Cangelosi in 1986
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 10, 2018

So far in 2018, he has clearly been more aggressive and is perfect (6 for 6) on the season. But it’s not just a matter of simply having speed and wanting to steal more bases. Anderson is now more focused on honing his craft.

This has not gone unnoticed by the coaching staff and in particular third base coach Nick Capra.

"“The leads probably weren’t as good as they should have been last year,” Capra said recently. “He really dedicated and prepared himself in spring training on working on that aspect of his game, and that’s where it started from, his leads and jumps. Now we’re in the video room studying pitchers and moves and having times and stuff like that obviously plays into the equation of what we’re doing. We put in a lot of time into watching film.”"

Capra also mentioned that Anderson is a guy that they expect to make things happen on the bases.

“He’s going to get a lot of green lights,” Capra said. “The game is going to dictate when we have to hold him up a little bit. But he has the reigns to do what he wants to do out there for the most part.”

But it all starts with getting on base. And while he is on pace to easily surpass his career high in walks, he still has work to do when it comes to plate discipline and pitch recognition.

Chicago White Sox: Is Tim Anderson starting to realize his potential?

By Todd Thorstenson | Apr 14, 2018

Despite the slow start to the season for the White Sox, Tim Anderson is showing signs that he may finally be realizing his vast potential.