Tim Anderson is primed to be an AL MVP candidate

If 2019 was any indication, Tim Anderson’s growth is bound to culminate in an AL MVP award.

It is going to be a wonky baseball season. Unexpected teams can get hot and make a playoff push and a Cy Young winner may have just twelve starts.

One team that will benefit from the situation is the White Sox, particularly their star man Tim Anderson, a prime AL MVP candidate for 2020. Especially so when last year’s MVP, Mike Trout, holds some reservations about the season.

The 27-year-old White Sox shortstop is one of the MLB’s fastest-growing stars since his majors debut in 2016. In 99 games that season, Anderson delivered a relatively impressive rookie year, with nine home runs and a .283 batting average.

That was enough to earn a six-year contract in 2017 worth $25 million. Since then, Anderson earned his reputation as one of the game’s most unique players.

With an aggressive style at the plate, Anderson has routinely ranked bottom in the league in walk percentage and walks-per-strikeout ratio. That would be traditionally seen as an inability to reach base and lack of plate discipline. While there are areas to improve, that isn’t the case here.

Anderson led the majors in batting average at .335 last season and had an on-base percentage of .357. The former was good enough to win the AL Batting title in 2019.

So with those incredible numbers at the plate, what is keeping Anderson from the MVP award? Fielding.

In a sixty-game season, Anderson’s hitting will shine, making him an AL MVP favorite.

Anderson’s plate success has been mirrored by his struggles in the field. Since 2017, Anderson has topped the league in numerous error categories, even holding the lowest fielding percentage among all shortstops last season.

But with just 60 games, it becomes much more difficult for those errors to surface. Miniscule fielding mistakes will float out of focus and all the rave will be about his work at the plate.

With sharpened attention to growing his hitting game and a reduction in fielding errors, an MVP award will be in Tim Anderson’s sights for 2020.