Ankle injury ‘just part of the story’ for White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson

Only a day before the injury, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson was reflecting on the whirlwind of events marking his breakout season.

The best thing about it?

“Just that it inspired and motivated so many people, kids,” Anderson told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. “I’m a guy who’s here to motivate and inspire. I’m grabbing hold of that and enjoying those moments.”

Anderson has broken out not only as a player but as a personality, too. There was the shrug-off of Manny Machado supposedly threatening his spot at shortstop, then his reaction during spring training to Machado not signing, after all.

“Ride with us or get run over!” Anderson declared.

There was the American League Player of the Month honor for April, the bat flip against the Royals and Anderson’s campaign to make baseball fun.

There was the bench-clearing melee after the flip when Royals righty Brad Keller hit him with a pitch, and Anderson’s one-game suspension for dropping an N-word on Keller, who is white. Through all of it, Anderson says he felt an outpouring of support, especially from kids, that inspires him.

“Now I’m at a spot where I can look at those things, like the bat flip, all that stuff that was going on, that had to happen,” he said. “It was pretty cool to go through those things. I learned a lot from them, and it’s even better that I stepped away from that, looked at it as a learning opportunity. Those were pretty cool moments.”

And then Tuesday night at Fenway Park, the most un-cool moment unfolded: Anderson suffered a high right ankle sprain while ranging to his left and making a throw across his body. There was no contact with anyone, just his foot planting momentarily, and his season came to a momentary stop with a .317/.342/.491 slash line, 11 home runs and 15 stolen bases on hold.

The Sox will put Anderson on the injured list Friday. Eloy Jimenez missed 3½ weeks with his high ankle sprain, and that was viewed as fast healing.

Hopes for the All-Star Game, which is two weeks away?

Dashed.

“It’s just part of the story,” Anderson said Thursday.

“It’s part of my life, man. You go through things, and you learn things. Just another thing I have to go through, and I’ll be back.”

A married father of two young children, Anderson has suffered bigger blows in his 26 years. Anderson’s father was imprisoned for most of his childhood in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. During the 2017 season, Branden Moss, Anderson’s best friend and godfather of his baby girl, was shot and killed outside a Tuscaloosa bar. Moss was coming to the aid of an assault victim.

All of it is why Anderson gets involved in the community. All of it made him stronger, Anderson says. All of it shaped his perspective about success.

“I’m still the same person,” he said Tuesday. “I’m laid-back. I’m living life, I’m having fun, I’m at a point now where I’m just soaking up everything that’s going on around me, especially with the year I’m having, man. Just enjoying those moments, trying not to get too high, not to get too low. Enjoying and controlling everything that’s around me.”

Anderson is the only African American on the Sox’ 25-man roster, but he hasn’t felt isolated because of it.

“We’re tight in here,” he said. “I don’t really hang with any of the guys off the field, but I have a good relationship with all of them. I can talk to any of them about anything. They understand my culture and where I come from, and they’re interested in learning about it. I don’t care, I like to let people inside my world, what I go through, where I come from and how it is.”

The injury is just another thing to go through.

“I just have to get back healthy, take it a day at a time,” Anderson said. “Keep working.”

TWINS AT SOX

Friday: Jose Berrios (8-3, 2.84 ERA) vs. TBA, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH, 720-AM.

Saturday: Michael Pineda (4-4, 5.02) vs. Ivan Nova (3-6, 5.91), 3:12 p.m., NBCSCH, 720-AM.

Sunday: Kyle Gibson (8-4, 4.21) vs. Lucas Giolito (10-2, 2.87), 1:10 p.m., Ch. 9, 720-AM.