DENVER — Talking publicly for the first time since a fight near second base with Jose Ramirez that sparked a nasty brawl in Cleveland two weeks ago, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson vowed to “be better,” as a player and as a leader by example, and to keep working to return to the player he has been in the past.
“You go through things to get to the other thing,” Anderson said Friday, talking in the visitors dugout at Coors Field before serving the first game of his suspension that was reduced to five games Thursday by Major League Baseball. “I’ve got to be better, I have to be better. I will be better. Keep working, and I won’t take anything for granted. Keep trying to better myself as a whole, on and off the field. And just keep pushing.”
Anderson has struggled through his worst season on the field, performing well below his All-Star and batting champion standards set in recent years. He has also dealt with family strife off the field, and has been a shell of himself in the clubhouse.
In recent years, Anderson’s energy and upbeat voice in the clubhouse and on the field before and during games were apparent. This season, he has quietly kept to himself much more.
As it happened, there was a leadership void in the clubhouse as he and the team struggled mightily.
“I’ve always tried to lead by example, but I haven’t given a good example,” Anderson said. “So that definitely is not at a good point. I come every day to try to better myself and the guys around me at work. Pretty sure this organization knows what type of person I am, what I bring to the table and how I work.”
On Friday, Anderson sat in his corner of the clubhouse laughing with teammates Touki Toussaint, Seby Zavala, Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn and coach Daryl Boston. Perhaps a corner was being turned.
“Get back to the type of player that I am, the type of player that I have been,” Anderson said. “Keep working, get back in the lab and get the body right and work on my swing and try to be the best that I can be each day, every day.
“If you ain’t going through anything then you’re not growing. I just understand that it is a lot, but it has to be working toward something great. Being at a point like this. I’m just going to keep going, keep going. Keep hustling, and see where it leads me. Hopefully it’s somewhere near greatness.”
First-year manager Pedro Grifol hasn’t seen the great Anderson this season but he has watched him arrive at the park early on a daily basis to work at his craft and fight through his slump.
“The struggle he’s had, it showed him and me how hard he loves this, respects this,” Grifol said Friday. “If you don’t respect the game you don’t work as hard as he does.”
“Sometimes things happen for a reason. Adversity is education.”
Grifol said Anderson’s sprained knee suffered in April probably altered his mechanics.
“He is a good hitter, it’s just not happening right now,” Grifol said. “You don’t just lose that from one day to the next. You don’t do what he’s done for four and a half, five years and then have an off year and all of a sudden you were a good hitter, at that age [30]. He has to make adjustments, feel the mechanics in his swing that he wants and have a little success and run with it again.”
Anderson apologized for his actions on an Instagram post Thursday.
“It was heartfelt. That’s how he feels and I’m right there with him.” Grifol said.
“I just wanted to say what I believe and hopefully say it well with whoever received it,” Anderson said. “But I definitely wanted to be real and authentic about it. Accountability. Apologize. A little bit of everything. The biggest thing was really just be real with it.”