Topps fire is a brand with very “creative” design elements. It’s indeed different from other releases. Topps fire is very colorful and gives fans a very distinct design for MLB stars and top rookies. In 2019 Topps fire, there are 2 hits in a hobby box, one of which is an autograph. This year, each hobby box has 2 autographs. A few months ago, I opened a box of Topps fire 2019. Last week, I got a few packs of Topps fire 2020.
One of the notable base cards is the Tim Anderson baseball card. Fernando Tatis Jr. is probably the most discussed player this season and is the National League MVP favorite. However, we should not ignore Tim Anderson from the White Sox.
Tim Anderson earned the American League batting title with a .335 batting average last season. He is currently hitting .377 so far, leading the majors.
As a leadoff hitter, Tim Anderson can surely get on base. His OBP is .414, ranking 6th in the majors, it’s even higher than Mike Trout.
His on base percentage goes up gradually in the last 4 seasons. It could be his first season with an over .400 OBP this year.
Tim Anderson’s xwOBA is .388. Among all shortstops, Tim Anderson’s xwOBA ranks 4th, leading the AL.
At the beginning of his career, Tim Anderson couldn’t hit breaking pitches well. However, he improves gradually and his xwOBA against breaking pitches reaches .363 so far this season. He’s a good fastball hitter and has an xwOBA over .400 against fastballs.
Tim Anderson’s barrel percentage is 9.7%, ranking 5th among all shortstops.
In the last 2 seasons, his barrel percentage against fastballs or breaking pitches was around 5%. Against fastballs, Tim Anderson’s barrel percentage is more than 9% so far this season. Against breaking pitches, he does hit even harder and his barrel percentage is 11.1% thus far. Nevertheless, his barrel percentage against offspeed pitches goes down to 5.9% this season.
Tim Anderson has definitely become a very good hitter in the major league. However, there are some concerns about his defense. In 2017 and 2019, he committed the most errors in the majors. In the last 3 years, he committed at least 20 errors each season.
When we look at outs above average, it seems that there are some problems. In 2017 and 2018, Tim Anderson was +2 OAA and +4 OAA. That tells us he’s basically a league average defensive shortstop. Nevertheless, last season he was with a -2 OAA and he’s with a -3 OAA so far this season. His defense could be a weak part of his game. The Chicago White Sox is definitely one of the most entertaining teams to watch this season. Tim Anderson plays a key role in this team. He’s a pretty good hitter and could win the batting title in two consecutive seasons. No Sox player ever has won back-to-back AL batting titles. He has a high on base percentage (.414) and that makes him score 41 runs, leading the AL. However, his defense could cause some concerns since he committed at least 20 errors in the last 3 seasons and his OAA is -3 this season. There is room for improvement.
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