For the first time in nearly four years, a Chicago White Sox player has been honored as the American League’s Player of the Month, as Tim Anderson collected that award Thursday.
Anderson hit six home runs and drove in 18 RBI during the first month of the season, and was named as the Player of the Month for March and April. He also posted a .375 batting average in the month and stole 10 bases for the White Sox.
According to the White Sox PR department, Anderson became the first player from the squad to win Player of the Month honors since José Abreu captured the prize in April and July of 2014.
Anderson stirred up plenty of controversy during the month after he was hit by a pitch following a home run in a game against the Kansas City Royals. Anderson was later ejected from that game and was suspended by Major League Baseball, but in the weeks since he has been outspoken about why the league needs to embrace celebrations instead of rejecting them.
“I don’t know the old-school rules,” Anderson recently told James Fegan of the Athletic. “I guess those are the rules when those guys played, but they’re not playing anymore, so I think we’re going to switch it up a little bit.”
Anderson and his White Sox teammates will be back on the field Thursday when they take on the Boston Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.