White Sox’ Tim Anderson featured on cover of RBI Baseball 21

White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has been selected as the cover athlete for R.B.I. Baseball 21.

Major League Baseball made the announcement Thursday, making Anderson the first White Sox to be featured on the cover of the popular baseball video game.

“Like a lot of kids, I grew up playing video games,” Anderson said. “When I couldn’t get outside to play ball or we had bad weather, that was a time to have fun with my friends and live out some fantasies. And it was always cool to see who was on the cover every year – those were guys I aspired to be. So now to see myself on the cover of R.B.I. 21 is really part of a dream come true. And I hope that kids will see my picture on the cover and realize they can do this, too. They just have to believe in themselves, follow their dreams and work at it.”

Anderson, 27, is a rising star in MLB and arguably the face of the Sox franchise. He won the 2019 American League batting title, leading both leagues in average that season, and finished seventh in AL Most Valuable Player voting in 2020 after finishing among AL leaders in several key offensive categories, including second in batting average (.322), tied for first in runs scored (45) and fourth in hits (67). He won his first Silver Slugger Award in 2020, given to the best offensive player at his position.

White Sox’ Tim Anderson: A straight-up superstar — and the best player in Chicago?

Anderson is in his finest hour yet. Must we amend that to “quarter-hour”? Fine, but the fact stands: He’s a superstar. If you haven’t fully wrapped your head around that yet, don’t worry. You will soon.

His batting average is a tidy .377.  His output is a rare combo of high batting average with pop, lots of K’s, yet almost no BB’s.