White Sox DFA SS Jimmy Rollins, promote Tim Anderson

A day after cutting ties with veteran pitcher Mat Latos, the White Sox continued to tinker Friday, designating for assignment veteran shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

To fill Rollins’ roster spot, the Sox purchased the contract of shortstop Tim Anderson from Class AAA Charlotte.

Rollins, 37, who opened the season as the Sox’ primary shortstop, was out of the lineup again Thursday against the Washington Nationals, raising speculation that he would be next to go on a White Sox team that has been on a monthlong free-fall. Rollins hit .221 with two home runs and eight RBI in 41 games this season, his first with the White Sox after signing as a free agent on Feb. 22.

Rollins, the 2007 Nati0nal League MVP with the Phillies, ranks sixth all-time with 2,227 games played at shortstop. Tyler Saladino figures to get the bulk of playing time at short.

Anderson, who entered the season ranked by Baseball America as the No. 1 Prospect, Best Hitter For Average and Best Athlete in the White Sox organization, hit .337 with 31 runs in 37 games since May 1.

On Friday morning, Anderson tweeted, “Something I been working for my whole life and I couldn’t be more thankful, humble and excited for this opportunity. Thanks to man above.”

“He continues to improve and get better,’’ assistant general manager Buddy Bell recently told The Sun-Times. “His feet are so quick sometimes he gets ahead of himself but has made vast improvements. He really gets the speed of the game fairly quick, at any level he’s been at.

“He’s really a smart, intelligent kid with good instincts. With any young kid there is going to be some growing pains. But he seems to figure it out pretty quickly.’’

Anderson, who will wear uniform No. 12, has no major-league experience. He joins Chris Sale (2010) and Carlos Rodon (2014) as recent Sox first-round selections on the active roster.

Rollins signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Sox in February. He is the third high-profile veteran to be sent packing by the Sox this season. Latos was DFA’s on Thursday and veteran lefty John Danks was released in late May.

As well as Anderson has performed this season in Charlotte, Bell said when he would be brought up to the majors wasn’t something Anderson paid too much attention to.

“Any time you have a player of his caliber you’re always talking about when is the right time,” Bell said. “Can he handle it? How does he deal with adversity?

“Those are the keys to when you call somebody up. We have a pretty good combination of what Jimmy and Tyler do, but when you have a player like Timmy, when he’s ready, that’s when you make the decision. It doesn’t really depend on what’s in front of him. I don’t know when that time is.’’