The White Sox cut loose Jimmy Rollins and call up prospect Tim Anderson to play shortstop:

Tim Anderson is a very, very good prospect. I’m higher on him than most, as I believe he will be a star player. Setting my opinion aside, the consensus is that he will be good enough to be a starting shortstop in the major leagues.

Aggressiveness is the hallmark of his offensive game. His plate approach is to attack the first hittable fastball he sees. Like many players, he’s susceptible to breaking balls away. And, like everybody else, the trick to getting him out is putting him into a pitcher’s count where he’s more likely to chase. While that sounds simple enough, Anderson has excellent bat speed and a swing plane that keeps the barrel in the zone so it can be hard to get him into a two strike count. A pitcher will be risking contact to do so and, if Anderson keeps it between the lines, he’s an immediate danger. While he understands the strike zone reasonably well, he doesn’t take many walks because he ordinarily will see at least multiple pitches in a plate appearance of that length that he can hit.

Anderson may be a good pick for Beat the Streak. In his minor league career, he hit .301 with a .340 OBP, so hit batting average represents a high percentage of his OBP. He’s not a home run hitter, but with his speed he has double and triple power. It’s defense that matters most at short, and if he plays the position well he’ll hit enough to stay in the majors.