CHICAGO – It looks like the White Sox won’t have to play a game without their shortstop thanks to a change by the MLB in discipline from a gesture made in a game in Cleveland earlier this season.
Per the Associated Press, Tim Anderson’s one-game suspension for giving fans the middle finger during a game on April 20th at Progressive Field has been dropped down to a fine.
The shortstop made the gesture during the first game of a doubleheader against the Guardians in which the White Sox lost 11-1 and Anderson himself had made three errors. A one-game suspension was handed down before the end of that week, but now he won’t have to serve it thanks to the agreement with MLB.
This is the second time that Anderson has had a suspension reduced over the last two months, having gotten a three-game ban taken down to two after bumping an umpire in a benches-clearing dust-up against the Tigers at Comerica Park in September of 2021.
Anderson is enjoying another strong season at the plate as he enters his seventh season at the major league level with the White Sox. He’s hitting .330/.363/.515 with six double, four homers, and ten RBI. He has some troubles in the field, however, as he’s made nine errors in 24 games, which is a surprise since he had just ten during the entire 2021 season in 122 games.
One of those errors came on Monday during a nightmare ninth inning where the White Sox lost an 8-2 lead as Cleveland scored six runs against the bullpen. Cleveland would go on to win it 12-9 in 11 innings, ending the team’s six-game winning streak.
Anderson is in the lineup for Tuesday’s contest against the Guardians and will leadoff for the second of the three-game series.