To see shortstop Tim Anderson win a batting title would make White Sox hitting coach Todd Steverson’s day.
Maybe his season.
“It would be awesome. I would be the most elated person in the whole wide world for the kid,” Steverson said Wednesday. “Those just don’t come around. To be one of the hundreds, thousand, players who to go to spring training and you walk away at the end of the season with the best batting average of anybody?”
To join Luke Appling and Frank Thomas as the only Sox batting champs in history?
Not bad.
But for Steverson, perhaps the best thing happening for the 26-year-old shortstop, who went 4-for-5 with four singles in the Sox’ 8-3 win against the visiting Indians on Wednesday that clinched the American League Central title for the Twins and dropped the Indians to 1½ games behind the Rays for the second AL wild-card spot, is watching him thrive under the pressure of it all.
“Everybody knows where you’re at and they don’t want you to get a hit off them,” Steverson said.
“They are trying, they are coming at me with their best stuff, but I’m waiting on them,” Anderson said.
Against All-Star right-hander Shane Bieber, Anderson reached on an infield single in the first, lined a single off the right-field fence in the second and lined a single to center in the fourth. Against submariner Adam Cimber in the sixth, Anderson flicked a two-strike pitch through the vacant right side to give him a major-league best six games with four hits.
“This is the best for him because he is on the map and guys are pitching him like a 3, 4 hitter with the game on the line most of the time,” Steverson said. “It’s almost like playing with a playoff-type atmosphere thought process. It’s big for him.”
With a .339 average, Anderson is pulling comfortably away from the American League pack. DJ LeMahieu is at .328.
Anderson might add 100 points to his average this season before it’s all over after he batted .240 in 2018.
To his credit, Anderson made changes.
“It was taking his experiences, bottling them up and dealing what was good and what was bad and what needed to be adjusted and fixed,” Steverson said.
“I put the work in and it’s showing,” Anderson said.
Anderson is standing taller in his stance, is chasing fewer bad pitches, and is hitting curveballs at a .311 clip. As Steverson puts it, the barrel action is creating more accuracy. Timing is everything, and “better timing has allowed him to make better decisions.”
Anderson says he’s covering both sides of the plate better this season.
Jose Abreu, another Sox player pursing an individual title, drove in his AL-leading 122nd run with a single, part of a 3-for-5 night.
Abreu and Anderson both scored on a borderline comical throwing error by first baseman Carlos Santana in the first. Santana had Anderson stopped between home and third on Zack Collins’ roller but his soft throw to catcher Roberto Perez was about 20 feet too high.
Two Sox left with injuries. Left fielder Leury Garcia, who hit an opposite field homer leading off the first inning, exited with a sore right shoulder and designated hitter Matt Skole left with right abdominal tightness. Both are day to day.
Skole’s replacement, Welington Castillo, hit a three-run homer against Tyler Clippard in the seventh to give the Sox an 8-3 lead.
Lefty Ross Detwiler (3-5, 6.85 ERA) pitched five innings of three-run ball in the last of his 12 starts for the Sox this season. He appreciated Anderson’s support.
“I’ve been playing for what, 12, 13 years now and guys hitting .340 this late in the season, you never see that,” Detwiler said. “It’s amazing. Every night he’s got multiple hits.”
