An Infielder Who ‘Wants the Moment’ Thrives for the U.S.
PHOENIX — In baseball parlance, a top quality main league participant is named a man. A celebrity, although, is greater than a man. He’s a dude.
Most of the pitchers for the United States on this World Baseball Classic are guys. The hitters are dudes, and that’s the reason Tim Anderson was unfazed by dropping badly to Mexico on Sunday night time.
“Really, the vibe is still the same,” Anderson, the shortstop for the Chicago White Sox, stated after leaving the U.S. clubhouse. “I mean, you look around and you see who’s in the locker room, there’s really nothing to complain about. You’ve got a bunch of dudes in there.”
The dudes confirmed up Monday with the cool assurance that they’d not be embarrassed once more. They blitzed Team Canada with a nine-run first inning, successful by mercy rule in seven innings, 12-1, for his or her second victory in three video games. After a break day, the U.S. will face Colombia on Wednesday in hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals in Miami.
Lance Lynn stifled Canada for 5 innings on Monday, however it was Anderson, Lynn’s Chicago teammate, who could have shone brightest. In 10 seasons as an expert, Anderson has performed 1,091 video games within the subject, at all times at shortstop. On Monday, for the very first time, he performed second base.
“Everybody tells him that he can’t do something, he’s going to prove you wrong and do everything that he can to win, no matter where he is, whatever situation you put him in,” Lynn stated. “And that’s who he is. He’s going to win at all costs.”
The U.S. may have used a special batting champion at second base on Monday, the Mets’ Jeff McNeil, a left-handed hitter. But Canada was beginning a left-hander, and Manager Mark DeRosa took no probabilities. He needed the right-handed Anderson, who has hit .318 throughout the final 4 seasons however appears to have one thing to show.
“When you play in the W.B.C., it’s a feeling-out process at first,” DeRosa stated. “I think he wanted to let some people know how good he was — in that dugout, in that clubhouse, the coaching staff, on down the line. He has really caught a lot of people’s eyes on this team.”
Anderson walked within the first in opposition to starter Mitch Bratt, 19, who pitched final season for the Class A Down East Wood Ducks in Kinston, N.C., and managed solely 9 strikes in 25 pitches. Anderson later added a triple, a single and a stolen base, whereas fielding flawlessly at second.
“It’s really not the first time I’ve played on the other side of the bag; when the shift was on, I stayed on that side,” Anderson stated. “It’s a matter of just getting comfortable, and I got comfortable as the game went on and I was able to complete the task.”
With infield shifting nonetheless allowed within the W.B.C., Anderson truly made one in all his 4 assists on the shortstop aspect of second base. Both of his hits went to proper subject, the identical course as his game-ending homer on the Field of Dreams in Iowa in 2021.
That was a uncommon highlight second for Anderson, whose White Sox have made two slightly forgettable playoff appearances in his seven-year profession. The first, in 2020, was a part of an expanded subject with no followers in attendance. The different, in 2021, was a division collection loss to Houston that was principally hidden, with three of 4 video games held on weekday afternoons.
Still, DeRosa stated, Anderson is a participant who “wants the moment” — and, certainly, he’s 16 for 33 (.485) in these uncommon postseason video games, and 4 for 7 with 4 runs batted in at this W.B.C.
“He’s been raking,” stated Trea Turner of the Philadelphia Phillies, who began for the U.S. at shortstop. “He can really, really hit.”
And that’s Anderson’s goal: Confident in his skill to smack the ball onerous to all fields, he by no means desires to take a hittable pitch. In 2019, when he received the American League batting title, Anderson walked solely 15 occasions in 518 plate appearances.
“I ain’t in there to wait around,” Anderson stated the subsequent spring, and the numbers help his mantra. He has 900 profession hits and 117 walks, the fewest among the many 24 main leaguers with that many hits within the final seven seasons — and no person desires him to alter.
“He reminds me of my old teammate, Michael Young, who is on the coaching staff,” DeRosa stated. “I’m telling Mikey all the time, ‘Mikey, he’s you, man. He plays with an edge, lightning bat speed, takes his knocks the other way.’”
Young used that method to win a batting title and make seven All-Star groups whereas amassing probably the most hits within the historical past of the Texas Rangers. Anderson, 29, has an extended method to go to catch Luke Appling on the White Sox record — Appling, a Hall of Famer, had 2,749 hits — however his status is taking maintain throughout the sport.
“To actually be on the same field with him and watch him play, he’s an incredible player — just so dynamic, he can do so many things,” stated U.S. catcher J.T. Realmuto, who has performed only one collection in opposition to the White Sox in 4 years with the Philadelphia Phillies.
“That’s another part of the intrigue of an event like this. I’ve got to play with guys — I think I’ve played Trout one time my whole career. So being in the same clubhouse with him, with Anderson, and watching them on a daily basis, it’s a lot of fun.”
Mike Trout, the three-time winner of the A.L.’s Most Valuable Player Award for the Los Angeles Angels, is the headliner right here; he homered on Monday and made the workforce celebration gesture — a military-style salute — on his journey across the bases. But Trout was glad to share the stage on the postgame news convention.
“He’s a star,” Trout stated, with Anderson simply to his proper. “There’s no way else to put it.”
There is one different approach. Anderson, like the remainder of the hitters within the adorned U.S. lineup, is a dude.
