White Sox's Anderson sets sights on winning batting title

Tim Anderson was the White Sox's leadoff man Saturday night, a rather fitting slot.

Back as a qualifying hitter after being sidelined from late June to late July with a sprained ankle, Anderson leads the American League with a .334 average.

Attempting to become the Sox's first batting champion since Hall of Famer Frank Thomas hit .347 in 1997, Anderson was 2-for-5 in an 8-7 loss to the Angels at Guaranteed Field in his second straight game at the top of the lineup.

Saturday was also Joe McEwing's second game filling in for manager Rick Renteria, who is on the mend following rotator cuff surgery.

McEwing, the White Sox's bench coach, said he sat down with Renteria prior to the three-game series against Los Angeles and mapped out the weekend lineups.

With usual leadoff man Leury Garcia back home in the Dominican Republic for his grandmother's funeral, moving Anderson to the top of the lineup made sense.

"Timmy can hit 1-through-9 in the lineup," McEwing said. "Right now, the at-bats he's having and his approach at the plate, he's in an amazing position, maybe the best I've seen him throughout his career of understanding what each pitcher is trying to do to him in certain situations and throughout the game."

While he rarely sets goals - or at least makes them public - winning the batting title this season is on Anderson's radar.

"It'd be a huge accomplishment," he said. "We made it this far, so why not give it a shot? I think I've just got to keep being consistent and keep enjoying and keep having fun with it. I think the rest will take care of itself."

A career .258 hitter coming into the season, Anderson is still a free swinger and has just 11 walks in 446 plate appearances. A big difference is the strikeout count, which stands at 92 after Anderson whiffed 149 times last year and 162 times in 2017.

"The main thing was just getting good pitches to hit and laying off all the stuff that they were throwing me last year, which were sliders in the other batter's box," Anderson said. "I'm able to pick out a good one and get the barrel to it."

Anderson is going to keep trying to improve during the offseason, and he's likely to focus on his defense. The 26-year-old shortstop made his 25th error Saturday night, the most in the major leagues.

"I want to continue to get better, so I'm going to keep working," Anderson said. "I think it's just the mentality of I'm never satisfied."