Former AL batting champion Tim Anderson has fallent off in recent years, and he thinks he knows why.
Anderson, 31, has signed a minor-league deal with the Los Angeles Angels for the upcoming season. He had spent the first 8 years of his career with the Chicago White Sox, with whom he was a two-time All-Star. Anderson batted .282 with a .735 OPS during his White Sox career. He batted over .300 for four seasons in a row from 2019-2022, including a .335 average season in 2019, which ranked first in the AL.
Anderson then batted .245 with a .582 OPS in 2023. He spent last season with the Miami Marlins and batted .214 over 65 games before being released in July.
The shortstop joined “Foul Territory” for an interview on Wednesday and discussed his dropoff in recent years. He says some injuries threw him off and he hasn’t been able to recover since then.
“I went through a couple injuries. I think the last injury that I went was when I did the MCL. Once I came back, the feel was just different. I lost the feel. I had a hand injury. … and then we could speak on the mental side as well. … I had other personal things going on as well,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of hard to be able to see clear when you have so much going on.”
Tim Anderson says that he lost the feel for hitting after a hand injury, but seems ready to rake again in 2025 💥 pic.twitter.com/tw5RpX0N7H
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 29, 2025
Anderson will have a chance to get his career back on track as a non-roster invitee to Angels spring training. He says some time away from the game after being released by the Marlins was helpful to him. We will see in the coming months whether or not he is able to turn things around.
