The Tim Anderson Second Baseman experiment is coming to a close. Ahead of Sunday’s White Sox game against the Red Sox, manager Pedro Grifol said when Anderson returns to the lineup the plan is for him to return to shortstop.
Anderson missed four games with shoulder soreness last week. When he came back, Grifol put Anderson in the lineup at second base, a position he had never played professionally dating back to his MLB debut in 2016. Anderson did play second base for Team USA this year at the World Baseball Classic.
Some speculated whether the move was due to Anderson’s uncharacteristic defensive miscues this year, but Grifol shot those rumors down on Friday.
“Don’t read too much into it,” Grifol said. “He wants to be a part of the lineup tonight. After the game, we’ll evaluate it like if he wasn’t playing – see where his arm is. And we will make a decision on where he plays tomorrow. All intentions are for him to go back to shortstop.”
Anderson did play second again on Saturday. There was thinking that the shorter throw from second base could allow Anderson to get back into the lineup without stressing his sore shoulder.
The second base experiment wasn’t very successful. Anderson made one error on a pickoff attempt and went 0-7 at the plate with a sacrifice fly over the two games. Anderson is out of the lineup again on Sunday. Again, Grifol nipped any speculation about the decision in the bud.
“We’re just going to give that arm a day of rest and then get him back out there.”
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