White Sox SS Tim Anderson Finally Draws a Walk
It took until the 86th plate appearance of his career, but Tim Anderson finally drew a WALK. It was the rookie shortstop’s third at-bat of the game in the White Sox 6-5 victory against the Twins Thursday. In spite of his lack of patience, Anderson has made a huge impact at the top of the White Sox order.
Anderson’s has presence completely lifted the White Sox offense. His success leading off has pushed Adam Eaton to second in the order. Eaton has thrived there and it solved what had been a huge hole of instability in the order.
All but ten of the at-bats in the top spot in the order have been taken by Eaton or Anderson this season. Austin Jackson went 3-9 with two runs scored in the two games that he hit in the top spot. Leadoff has been a bright spot for the White Sox this season. Anderson is hitting .314 with three home runs, five RBIs, a .512 slugging percentage and a .833 OPS.
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Eaton was adequate at the top of the order. He has thrived in the second spot. In the top spot Eaton has hit .260 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. Leading off an inning Eaton has been exceptional. He struggled as the first hitter in the game.
Leading off the game, Eaton was hitting just .241 with one home run, and one RBI. He did have a .328 OBP, a slight edge over Anderson’s .325. Amazingly, Eaton is hitting .307 with three home runs, three RBIs, a .373 OBP, a .518 slugging percentage and a .891 OBP leading off an inning.
In the second spot, Eaton has posted All-Star numbers. In 16 games batting second, Eaton is hitting .328 with one home run and seven RBIs. Eaton has a .397 OBP, a .484 slugging and a .882 OPS since being moved down a spot in the lineup.
Without Eaton in the second spot, the White Sox have gotten five home runs, 26 RBIs, a .286 OBP, .229 BA, .342 slugging and a .628 OPS. This includes Melky Cabrera who has been a monster hitting second in 13 at-bats in the number two spot.
Anderson was recalled on June 10th and hit ninth in his first three games, a three games series against the Royals. Anderson was moved to the top of the order for the White Sox game versus Detroit on June 13th. He has manned the top spot since.
The White Sox are 9-7 since Anderson became the leadoff hitter. Their offense has improved significantly since Anderson was placed in the leadoff spot. Without Anderson in the leadoff spot, the White Sox team averages were a .241 batting average, a .311 OBP, .379 slugging percentage and a .690 OPS. They have a 31-32 record and had scored 250 runs and hit 57 home runs.
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Those averages have gone way up with Anderson in the leadoff spot. In the 16 games with Anderson batting first, the White Sox are hitting .277, with a .332 on-base percentage, a .482 slugging percentage and a .815 OPS.