CHICAGO (AP) - Tim Anderson is at peace with his rise and his fall with the Chicago White Sox. And he's moving on with the Miami Marlins.
Anderson is back in Chicago for the Marlins' four-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was slated to begin on Thursday, but the opener was postponed because of rain in the forecast.
The two-time All-Star spent his first eight seasons in Chicago with the White Sox, but the team declined a $14 million option on the shortstop in November. He agreed to a $5 million, one-year contract with Miami in February.
"It feels good. I'm in a happy place," Anderson said, "and I'm getting the work in that I need. Just excited about my future."
The 30-year-old Anderson appeared in 17 of Miami's first 19 games after he was slowed by injuries during his final years in Chicago. He is batting .267 (16 for 60) with two RBIs and two steals.
Miami manager Skip Schumaker said everything he was told about Anderson has been "spot on."
"There's people that you trust in the baseball world, and they were exactly right on his work ethic, how he impacts his teammates," Schumaker said. "He's been out for early work. He's been on an early bus. He's been the first guy in the clubhouse at home. ... It's been great."
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Anderson was a first-round pick in the 2013 amateur draft. He made his big league debut in 2016 and quickly became one of baseball's bright young stars, part of a rising White Sox team.
Anderson hit a major league-best .335 with 18 homers and 56 RBIs in 2019. With the Alabama native sparking the lineup from the leadoff slot, Chicago made the playoffs in 2020 and 2021. But the team was never able to deliver on its potential.
Hampered by a sprained left knee and right shoulder soreness, Anderson hit .245 with one homer and 25 RBIs in 123 games last season. He also was suspended by Major League Baseball in August after he got into a fight with Cleveland slugger Jose Ramirez.
And Chicago tumbled all the way to a 61-101 record.
"I just know that the last year that I spent there was tough," he said. "And then finally to make it through and be on the other side, I'm happy. I'm in a great place. My smile's back. I'm back on my journey."
Anderson said he asked the White Sox for extensions "year after year." When it didn't work out, he knew he would have to go somewhere else eventually.
"You're not going to always spend your whole career with one team, and I understood that," he said. "We all know how it works. ... We understood that it was time for them to go their way and me to go my way."
Asked why Chicago dropped off after winning the AL Central in 2021, Anderson first said he didn't know before expounding on what happened.
"A lot of my decisions as well, you know, off the field, kind of interrupted a lot of things as well. We understood that," he said. "And it's hard to win when you don't have the right guys to go out and compete ... and that want to win it."
Anderson did not elaborate on what off-the-field decisions he was referencing. During an interview on "The Pivot Podcast" last year, he acknowledged having a child out of wedlock and going through therapy with his wife, Bria.
Anderson last played in the All-Star Game in 2022, but he remains confident he can regain his form from earlier in his career.
"I mean, I'm still the same person. I'm learning a lot more now," he said. "I'm sharpening up tools a lot more. ... I'm always going to try to get better and better myself as a person and as a player."
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
JAY COHEN
Cohen is a national baseball writer and an editor on the AP's sports desk. Based in Chicago, he also covers hockey, football and basketball, along with international water polo.
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