Tim Anderson made another costly error in the field, and Cleveland Guardians radio voice Tom Hamilton didn’t seem too surprised.
Hamilton doesn’t hold back his feelings when it comes to former Guardians players like Trevor Bauer. He also isn’t one to hold back when it comes to criticizing the opposing team.
Thursday afternoon, the Cleveland Guardians were facing the Chicago White Sox in the finale of a three-game series. During the game, Hamilton took issue with a defensive miscue made by White Sox shortstop Anderson. In the seventh inning of a 1-1 game, the Guardians were threatening to score with runners on second and third. With the game close, the White Sox had their infield in.
With one out, Guardians third baseman Brayan Rocchio slowly chopped a ground ball up the middle. And it was misplayed by Anderson. He looked like he would have had a chance to make a play at the plate, but he was unable to field the ball cleanly and it ended up costing the White Sox. The Guardians saw two runs cross the plate in the inning and took a 3-1 advantage–one they would hold onto.
Hamilton let Anderson have it.
“Just a routine chop and Anderson booted it,” Hamilton exclaimed. “And, well, at the end of the day, folks, he’s not a very good shortstop defensively. And now [White Sox manager] Pedro Grifol comes back out and [Thursday’s starting pitcher] Dylan Cease is probably saying, ‘Replace the shortstop. What did I do wrong? I got a weak chopper with the infield drawn in.'”
Of course, Hamilton isn’t wrong, and the defensive metrics back up his claim. But few radio voices would have said it as bluntly as he.
According to Statcast, Anderson has prevented minus two runs on the season and has minus three above-average outs. OAA is a range-based metric of skill that shows many outs a player has saved. Statistically speaking, Anderson has been a liability at shortstop. But Anderson is not the worst defensive shortstop in the league, and not even the worst shortstop in his own division, as Cleveland’s Amed Rosario has worse defensive numbers, ironically enough.
While Hamilton calls it as he sees it, hopefully, he has the same energy for Rosario’s defense that he does Anderson’s. In any event, Anderson’s error on Thursday proved to be pretty costly.
[Sports Mockery, Statcast; photo from Matt Marton/USA Today Sports]