TEMPE, Ariz. — He was one of baseball’s greatest young players, a two-time All-Star shortstop for the Chicago White Sox, a batting champion and Silver Slugger winner with the bravado and desire to be the face of baseball.
These days, he’s playing center field for the first time in his life, batting seventh, wearing No. 77 for the Los Angeles Angels and is on a minor-league contract trying to make a club that hasn’t had a winning season in a decade.
It’s been a minute for Tim Anderson.
It was just three years ago when Anderson hit .300 for the fourth consecutive year, making the All-Star team in back-to-back years, and hoping to sign another long-term contract extension to keep him with the White Sox for the rest of his career.
The next thing he knows, he’s struggling through injuries, family problems are emerging in the tabloids and he’s getting knocked out in a brawl. His performance cratered, the White Sox gave up on him, he signed with the Miami Marlins for 2024 but was released July 5 – and spent the remainder of the summer sitting home unemployed.
The Angels gave him a lifeline in late January, offering him a minor-league contract with no guarantees, paying him just $1.25 million if he makes the team.
Anderson grabbed it and here he is now, trying to make the most of an opportunity that he wasn’t sure would ever come.
“They’re really emphasizing to me to remember who I am,’ Anderson tells USA TODAY Sports. “You know I never forgot. I never forgot. I just went through a tough stretch.’
A stretch that sent Anderson’s career spiraling down into a dark hole, from which he wasn’t sure he could escape.
“It was a little of everything,’ Anderson says. “I had a lot going on. And we’re talking about things that not only you guys [media] see. I had a whole lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. Losing my grandmother. A whole lot of stuff man that I’d rather not share.
“But, you know, it’s life, man. Life comes at you hard.’
Anderson, who hit .318 with an .820 OPS from 2019-2022, averaging 22 homers, 37 doubles, 71 RBI and 23 stolen bases, was never the same. He tore a finger ligament and missed 83 games in 2022. His batting average plummeted by 56 points with a career-low .582 OPS in 2023. And he played just 65 games, producing only three extra-base hits with his .214 batting average, when he was released last July by the Marlins.
No one even bothered to pick him up all summer.
It gave Anderson time to gather himself, finally relax, shed all of the negativity and get prepared for a rebirth on the playing field.
“It’s just one of those things that I live in front of everybody,’ Anderson says. “So now everybody gets a chance to see me fight adversity. The biggest thing is how you respond.’
There are plenty of theories on why Anderson’s game deteriorated, whether it was the injuries, the off-the-field drama and of course, the punch that was heard throughout baseball.
It was Aug. 5, 2023 when Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez slid hard into second base, stood up and got into it with Anderson. Punches were thrown, but only one landed, with Ramirez knocking Anderson to the ground.
It’s something Anderson refuses to talk about in the present day.
The Angels believe Anderson’s drop-off was a combination of factors that simply became too much for him to handle.
“I told him that when he first got here this is a new start,’ Angels manager Ron Washington said. ‘If your head and [stuff] gets [messed] up, you caused it. You don’t need to get your head [messed] up. You need to stay in the process, work and get better just like you always did when your game was tight.
‘The last couple of years, there’s reason why your game wasn’t tight as it used to be. You had personal issues, all kinds of [stuff] was going on, and your game got lost in the shuffle.
‘Now you got a chance to find your game by staying in the process and easing into it. Don’t try to prove anything to anyone. Just get the work you need every single day, and your game will come back.
“And it has. He’s really in a good place mentally.’
‘He got embarrassed on live TV’
The Angels are doing everything possible to show Anderson they’re here for him. They have him in the weight room every day. They have him taking infield drills early every morning. And to make him more valuable, are making him versatile, playing center field for the first time Wednesday after also playing second base and shortstop this spring.
“We’re trying to give him love, man, because the last couple of year he ain’t gotten none,’ Washington said. “The last couple of years, people just bashed him. The last couple of years, he got embarrassed. He got embarrassed on live TV when a guy threw a punch at him.
“And all of it had to do with the fact that he had issues, man. He caused some of it, but still the organization didn’t support him. Then, he found himself out there all by himself. He had to try to put his family back together with their family problems.
“So you’re trying to put all that [stuff] back together, try to play, and then he got the [stuff] whipped out of him on live TV.’
The Angels, who plan to play Anderson only occasionally in center field, have focused on making him stronger. He had trouble hitting the ball out of the infield in 2024, and has just one homer since July 27, 2022. This spring, he homered in his seventh at-bat. He had not pulled a fly ball in a regular-season game since Aug. 26, 2023, spanning 352 plate appearances.
He was flawless in center field Wednesday fielding two singles in front of him against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit a sharp single in his first at-bat, and promptly stole second base. Still, he hardly is a finished product, batting .150 this spring. But it’s a start.
“The first week here, man, I’m telling you, the ball wasn’t coming off his bat,’ Washington said. “It was coming out like a wet newspaper. We made him get into the weight room, something he never did in Chicago. I went to the strength and conditioning guys and told them, ‘I want him to be a project. I want you to go looking for him. I want to let him know that we care. … Because mentally, that sets a standard to let him know that somebody cares about him.’
“Now, guess what happens? Guys come up to me and say, ‘Wash, we’re ready to get him, but can’t find him.’ He’s already in the weight room.
“So that’s what I want. I want him to know we give a damn. I want him to know we got our eyes on him every day. Every day we’re watching what the hell he does.
“We’re just trying to bring him back, man. He’s much more relaxed. He’s much more confident.
“He’s starting to look like Tim Anderson again.’
Anderson feels the love, appreciates the support and wants to repay the Angels for the faith they’ve shown in him.
He’s still only 31 and ready to start the second chapter of his career, feeling like his old self once again.
“It’s all happened for the good,’ Anderson says. “It might have looked bad, but over time, we’ll see what happens. Hopefully, I can keep staying with that positive energy and keep staying around positive people, and keep around people that want me to be better.
“I think I’ll get where I need to be.’
So go ahead, Anderson says, you can choose to remember him as the All-Star player who made the mistakes.
Or you can remember Anderson as the man who made those mistakes memorable.
“I’m finally able to get back to where I am right now and get better,’ Anderson said. “I’m comfortable. I’m feeling good. Mentally, I’m good. Physically I’m good.
“I’m just excited to go out there and play again.’
It’s that simple.
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