In an era with sabermetrics and underlying statistics, many experts around the MLB world have placed batting average on the back burner. While some still value the stat to an extent, others believe it is useless in regards to discovering a player's true value. However, Chicago White Sox' star shortstop Tim Anderson, who's hit over .300 in each of the past four seasons, could care less about the batting average naysayers, per Barstool Baseball on Twitter.
“You just mad cause I'm hitting .300,” Anderson said in response to critics that claim batting average doesn't matter.
Tim Anderson led the league in batting average during the 2019 campaign with a .335 mark. He also produced 4.2 WAR that season which should satisfy those who look past batting average. He followed that up by hitting .322 in the shortened 2020 season. Anderson then hit .309 in 2021 and .301 in 2022, making the All-Star team in both '21 and '22.
Anderson dealt with injury concerns last year, but he was still able to produce at a high level for Chicago. The White Sox labored as a team but the shortstop did everything he could to keep them afloat.
Tim Anderson is hoping to stay healthy and lead the White Sox to a bounce back effort in 2023. And he will continue aiming to post a high batting average along the way despite what the critics have to say.
Chicago will be an interesting team to follow. They were projected to win the AL Central by a landslide in 2022 before falling apart. The Cleveland Guardians ended up winning the division, and both Cleveland and the Minnesota Twins will be in the conversation for the division title in 2023. The White Sox feature enough talent to upset both teams but it remains to be seen whether or not they have enough consistency.
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