Is it time for Chicago White Sox to go with Anderson?

The Chicago White Sox embarked on a lengthy, challenging road trip following Wednesday's home game against Cleveland.

After making a stop at Kansas City for four games against the defending World Series champions, the Sox move on to New York for three interleague games against the Mets, who represented the NL in last year's Fall Classic.

The White Sox wrap up the trip with three games at Detroit against the revitalized Tigers, who have won eight of their last 10.

Thursday night's game at Kansas City was postponed because of rain. No makeup date was announced, but it will not be rescheduled as part of this series.

When the Sox left Chicago following a disappointing 3-7 homestand, during which they scored just 28 runs, Jimmy Rollins was their regular shortstop.

When they return home on June 7 for another tough opponent, the Washington Nationals, here is the gut feeling: Tim Anderson is the White Sox's starter at short.

Anderson is the Sox's top prospect, and he is their best positional prospect since Gordon Beckham was drafted with the No. 8 overall pick in 2008.

After playing just 59 games in the minor leagues, Beckham joined the White Sox on June 4, 2009, and performed like an instant star. That season he batted .270 with 14 home runs and a career-high 63 RBI in just 103 games while finishing fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

His career stalled after that, and Beckham is now a utility infielder with the Braves back home in Atlanta.

Anderson is not a sure thing himself, but the more you watch the Sox's offense, the more you sense they need an outside jolt.

General manager Rick Hahn boldly talked about his willingness to make immediate trades at the start of the last homestand, but with the July 31 nonwaiver deadline still well down the road, it is too early to find a partner.

For now, bringing up Anderson from the minor leagues makes the most sense.

Ideally, the White Sox wanted Anderson to go "level to level," which means spending the entire year with Class AAA Charlotte.

However, Hahn was definitely open for an earlier arrival.

"The good ones have a way of forcing that time frame up a little bit, and Tim, certainly in our opinion, is one of the good ones," the Sox's GM said. "So we'll see what happens."

Well, here is what's happening.

The 37-year-old Rollins has a .231/.289/.346 hitting line while struggling in the critical No. 2 hole. Anderson, meanwhile, is tearing it up at Triple-A.

The 22-year-old shortstop, drafted No. 17 overall in 2013, was leading the International League with 53 hits and was second with 28 runs scored and eighth with a .305 batting average heading into Thursday's play.

Earlier this month, pitcher Scott Carroll was asked about Anderson after joining the Sox from Charlotte.

"He's doing well," Carroll said. "His approach, I think he looks at the first pitch and he's getting better at getting on base, including more walks and stuff.

"He's got such quick hands. But the crazy thing is, he's still so young (22) and you look at him and he is still developing even more. He's going to be really good."

A .300 hitter the last three seasons in the Sox's system, Anderson's bat has never been a question. And with 93 stolen bases in 315 minor-league games, he has obvious plus-speed.

Concerning Anderson's eventual arrival, defense always has been the big hurdle.

"I've heard all the talk about being moved to the outfield," Anderson said in spring training. "But I consider myself a shortstop and I am out to show them I can play shortstop."

In his first 38 games at short for Charlotte, Anderson committed 7 errors. In 125 games with Class AA Birmingham last season, the converted basketball player made 25 errors.

Those are red-flag fielding numbers, but Anderson is athletic and has made steady strides with the glove since his playing days at East Central Community College in Decatur, Mississippi.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura recently was asked about Anderson.

"Offensively, he's enjoyable to watch just because he swings a lot, he makes a lot of hard contact," Ventura said. "I think most of it is going to be if he can kind of assimilate himself out on the field, get himself pretty comfortable out there. That happened in spring training somewhat. There's a ways to go for him to do that, but he was on his way to doing that."

Given where the floundering Sox are at - and where Anderson is at with his bat and speed - he should be on his way to the major leagues in the very near future.