Anderson batted seventh in the order Friday and could find himself in the lower third of the lineup this season, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
EDGE Analysis
Manager Rick Renteria was batting Anderson second during spring training, but feels the free-swinging shortstop is a better fit lower in the order. He's not much of a table-setter -- Anderson walked 13 times and had a .276 OBP in 2017 -- and Renteria feels the lineup can take advantage of Anderson's high batting average on balls in play (.347 for his career). "I don't want to change who he is," Renteria said. "Timmy puts the bat on the ball a lot and when he does it's a positive outcome. Not putting him in a situation where we're worrying about him getting on, as opposed to if guys are on base we know his ball in play is high and he's driving in a few more runs." Anderson was at his most productive last season when he hit seventh in the order (.730 OPS).