CLEVELAND – Tim Anderson, an All-Star shortstop and American League batting champion who rose from a White Sox first-round draft pick in 2013 to face of the franchise status during his best years, was designated for assignment Tuesday by the Miami Marlins.
The DFA puts an exclamation point on Anderson’s drastic fall as a performer, less than a year after the Sox declined to pick up the option on his contract following his worst season on the South Side. He was signed by the Marlins for $5 million in February, but in 65 games batted .214 with only three extra-base hits and no home runs.
Anderson, 31, led the majors with a .335 average in 2019 and made the AL All-Star team in 2021 and ’22.
In eight seasons with the Sox from 2016-23, Anderson batted .282 with 98 homers, 338 RBI and 117 stolen bases in 895 games, the most memorable the Field of Dreams game in Iowa in ‘21 when Anderson hit a walk-off homer to beat the Yankees. The Sox went on to win the AL Central that season.
Anderson batted .298/.327/.404 in his first 11 games in 2023, then missed three weeks with a sprained knee and was never the same, finishing with a .245/.286/.296 batting line with one homer in 123 games. He also dealt with family issues and, after challenging the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez to a fight near second base on Aug. 5 at Progressive, was knocked to the ground by Ramirez punch to the jaw.
Sox manager Pedro Grifol called Anderson getting DFA’d “unfortunate.”
“It was a little shocking to me, he was one of the best players in baseball a couple years ago and I just don’t think you lose it like that,” Grifol said. “I wish him the very best. I believe in him and what he’s capable of doing. I hope he gets an opportunity to go play somewhere and help somebody.”
Montgomery, Schultz named to Futures Game
Triple-A shortstop Colson Montgomery and Double-A left-hander Noah Schultz, both former first-round draft picks, were named to participate in the Futures Game during All-Star week.
Schultz, 20, MLB Pipeline’s No. 18 prospect, owns a 1.93 ERA with 30 strikeouts and three walks in 23 1/3 innings since his promotion to Birmingham. Montgomery, 22, batting .214/.329/.378 with 10 homers and a career-high 92 strikeouts in 71 games in his first season at Charlotte, dropped from 16th to ninth in Pipeline’s most recent rankings.
Robert leads off
Luis Robert batted leadoff for the 28th time in his career but first time this season, in part because Tommy Pham had the night off.
“I thought I’d move Luis up there and let him lead things off, get that extra at-bat if it comes back around,” Grifol said. “See if he can impact the game in that spot. He’s been there before, he’s done it. We’ll see how it looks.”
This and that
Andrew Vaughn, who hit his 11th homer against Carlos Carrasco in the first inning Tuesday in his first at-bat of July, batted .337/.371/.561 with six homers and 20 RBI in June.Garrett Crochet’s 141 strikeouts are the fourth-most in club history before the All-Star break, trailing Chris Sale in 2015 (157), Dylan Cease in 2022 (150) and Wilbur Wood in 1973 (142).The Sox entered Tuesday trailing the first-place Guardians by 30 games in the AL Central. They were 6-21 in the division.