Anderson reaches 1,000th career hit milestone 

CHICAGO -- There’s a good reason Major League players save the baseball following their first career hit, aside from the obvious tradition.

It’s a tremendous accomplishment to have a single moment of success at this elite level, one very few get to achieve, even though so many dream of hitting this goal while playing as youngsters in their backyard.

Now, take that one hit and jump it all the way up to 1,000, a career plateau White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson reached with a leadoff double against Tarik Skubal in the first inning of a 3-2 loss to the Tigers on Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field. That particular total represents longevity as much as on-field excellence.

Even Anderson, who won the 2019 American League batting title and was an AL All-Star starter at shortstop in ‘22, was taken aback with pride.

“If it’s brought to your attention, then obviously it’s something good,” a smiling Anderson said. “It means you have to think about how many people want to have one hit in the big leagues. To be able to get 1,000, I’m excited and happy. That’s huge.

“I’ve been here for a minute for me to get 1,000. Just keep working and continue to keep pushing. Definitely a proud moment, for sure.”

Anderson has played in 875 games for the White Sox since making his debut in 2016, becoming the 19th player in franchise history to record his first 1,000 hits in this uniform and No. 1,343 overall in MLB history. According to STATs, Bibb Falk (860) needed the fewest games in White Sox history to reach 1,000 hits, followed by Magglio Ordóñez (869), José Abreu and Frank Thomas (870 each), Luke Appling and Earl Sheely (879 each).

With a second hit on Sunday, Anderson now has 707 career singles, 178 doubles, 18 triples and 98 home runs. These are impressive statistics for an individual who was as accomplished at basketball as he was at baseball when selected 17th overall in the 2013 MLB Draft.

A great deal of work went in for Anderson to get to this point, leaving hit No. 1,000 sitting encased in plastic in the locker behind him.

“You have to continue to keep working,” Anderson said. “We are playing one of the toughest sports there is. And the hardest thing is sticking here and just being able to stick.”

“Tim reached a remarkable feat in the game today,” White Sox starting pitcher Michael Kopech said. “Give him a lot of praise for that.”

Kopech hopes to have the level of success featured on Anderson’s resume, but the right-hander has struggled mightily in the second half of the season with a 7.56 ERA in his last eight starts. Sunday’s effort marked Kopech’s Major League-leading seventh start issuing at least five walks, and he is tied with Blake Snell for MLB’s top spot with 89 free passes issued.

Against the Tigers (63-74), who swept three from the White Sox (53-84), Kopech walked five over 1 2/3 innings before Tanner Banks replaced him at 44 pitches. Only 16 were thrown for strikes.

“Ultimately, it's been disappointing for me for a long stretch of this season. Can't begin to describe the disappointment I have in myself,” Kopech said. “I've been working really hard to fix things and to not see results is frustrating.

“To go out there and have a performance like this is beyond frustrating. I've said it a lot this year, but it's onto the next one. Hopefully I can figure something out in these last few starts that I have and end on a high note. Right now things are tough."

Things have been tough, as well, for Anderson in 2023. In fact, it arguably has been the worst season of his otherwise stellar career. It’s easy to say, "As Tim goes, so go the White Sox," but the White Sox have been bad this year with or without their shortstop.

But he’s still learning and working hard, trying to finish strong with this latest milestone behind him.

“Just learned a lot. Understanding how the body works,” Anderson said. “The body definitely don’t feel like it did a few years ago, so you are trying to learn a whole lot of different things and try to get back to where I was. Just continue to keep working and grinding and keep trying to find that swing.”