![]() ![]() “There was a scramble from a lot of clubs,” said Hughes, who immediately began issuing requests for Anderson to be crosschecked. After leading the wooden bat Jayhawk League in batting average that summer, he was no longer hidden either.Įast Central may seem tucked out of the way of most of the baseball world, where Anderson didn’t really have a favorite home team growing up, but it’s only a half-hour drive from Meridian Community College, where Cliff Lee pitched before transferring to Arkansas. 360/.425/.500 as a freshman and stole 30 bases, so he wasn’t raw. But as veteran White Sox area scout Warren Hughes put it, a “raw” player is someone who can’t take their talents into a game - someone who has speed but can’t steal bases, who has power in batting practice but not the hand-eye skills to generate hard contact, who has quickness but is uncoordinated on the field.īut he was inexperienced, and at the end of his freshman season he would go undrafted, and his older brother agreed with Holliman that another year in junior college ball was necessary. Holliman would keep pushing, insisting that the 19-year-old Anderson was worthy of becoming his starting shortstop, despite having not played the position since Little League. “He was emailing people to transfer at Christmas and go play basketball,” Holliman said. Still, he struggled for six weeks to get Anderson to understand that he was pushing him toward that goal. But Anderson stood out as unique, just dripping with potential. ![]() Holliman has coached a handful of drafted players and sent his share off to Division I programs. ![]() He saw a kid run like the wind.ĭespite Anderson’s relative inexperience and an untested and unused throwing arm, Holliman saw an explosive athlete with a feel for the game and the field vision to make improvisational plays on defense. Holliman’s former player Vince Kortbawi recommended that he venture out to see Anderson play in high school, and he watched a skinny teenager club a pair opposite-field home runs on the strength of pure bat speed. Holliman would never claim that he had some special insight into understanding where Anderson’s talent would take him, he just recognized it was there. Having suffered stress fractures in his legs in each of his first two years of high school, and missing half of his senior season after leading the basketball team on a state title run, Anderson’s only official offer to play college baseball came from East Central. “If you want to be great, I’m going to coach you to be great,” Holliman would say back to him. Anderson knew the answer to Holliman’s oft-repeated question, though. I'm pretty sure the fans don't want to continue to keep hearing me say the same (expletive), you know? So hopefully we just go out and try to get some wins.“How good do you want to be?” he replies with a smile, completing the line.īefore Anderson erupted for an opening month of his third full big league season that’s worthy of All-Star consideration, before he was a baseball iconoclast by way of entering the sport later in life with fresh eyes and no built-in allegiance to its old ways, he was on a practice field at East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss., and his new coach, Neal Holliman, was riding him for reasons he didn’t quite understand. I really just try to bring positive energy and have fun. "We got a long season ahead," Anderson said. ![]() The shortstop said he feels good after missing 18 games with a left knee sprain and is excited about helping boost the offense and a clubhouse that went 3-15 in his absence. The White Sox made 11 roster moves ahead of the series opener with the Twins, designating pitcher Jake Diekman for assignment and bringing up outfielder Billy Hamilton from Triple A.īut the biggest move was reinstating Tim Anderson from the injured reserve list. Chicago White Sox make flurry of roster move after April struggles 01:24ĬHICAGO (CBS) – It's a new month for the White Sox and seemingly a whole new roster as they try to turn the page after one of their worst Aprils in franchise history.ĬBS 2's Jori Parys was at Guaranteed Rate Field where the Sox are getting set to host the Central Division-leading Minnesota Twins. ![]()
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