On his 30th birthday, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson started his first major-league game at second base.
Sox manager Pedro Grifol explained the decision as being prompted by Anderson himself after the initial lineup for Friday night’s series opener against the Red Sox had him on track to miss his fifth straight start with a sore right shoulder. During pregame warmups, Anderson tested the shoulder by throwing in the infield for the first time since he was hurt last Saturday in the third inning of a 4-3 victory in Seattle. Grifol said that session went well, but as of his 4 p.m. media session, he was still planning to start Elvis Andrus at short and rookie Zach Remillard at second while Anderson sat another night.
Then Anderson stepped in.
“He brought it up to me where, ‘I can play second if we need it,’ ” Grifol said. “He said, ‘I’d like to go over there to get in the lineup. I would like to be a part of this thing.’ We talked about it. Obviously got [general manager] Rick [Hahn] involved, and he’s going to play second base.”
An otherwise career-long shortstop, Ander-son notably played second, and played it well, for Team USA during the preseason World Baseball Classic. But that was a workaround to get Anderson in the lineup on a star-studded team that had two-time All-Star Trea Turner of the Phillies starting at short.
Since then, Anderson has reiterated multiple times his hope to remain at shortstop, and Grifol worked overtime to push back against any notions that a shift to second could be a long-term move. If Anderson’s shoulder continues to feel better as he ratchets up his throwing from longer distances, he’ll move back to his natural position, Grifol said.
“Don’t read too much into it,” he said. “After the game, we’ll evaluate it like if he wasn’t playing — see where his arm is, and we’ll make a decision on where he plays [Saturday]. All intentions are for him to go back to shortstop. This is about him wanting to be a part of this lineup [Friday night] and helping us win a baseball game.”
Anderson, himself a two-time All-Star, obviously hasn’t been the boost to the offense that the Sox hoped for when he hustled back after spraining his left knee in April. He entered Friday night hitting .235/.279/.259 in 41 games since returning from the injured list and, amid a host of injuries, hasn’t homered since last July.
In his most recent start last Saturday, Grifol moved Anderson from the leadoff spot to batting second for the first time this season. On Friday, he batted second behind left fielder Andrew Benintendi, but Grifol has insisted the move is strategic and not due to poor performance. Alluding again to complications in Anderson’s swing and stride created by his knee injury, Grifol reiterated his confidence in him.
“I think he’s going to get back in there, and at any time he could hit .300 the rest of
the way — he’s got that type of talent,” Grifol said. “He’s been so good at this level that he’s going to be good again. Everybody goes through something like this — everybody does — at some point in time in your career. Nobody’s exempt from adversity at the major-league level.”