Anderson nabs three hits in Double-A debut

Tim Anderson had a lot going for him on Friday night.

The White Sox second-ranked prospect was making his Double-A debut while returning from a fractured right wrist that sidelined him for nearly two months. Those circumstances could have produced a subpar performance, but he went 3-for-3 with a double, a sacrifice and a run scored.

"It was pretty fun," the 2013 first-round pick said. "It felt good to be back playing, coming off the injury."

About the only thing that went wrong for Anderson was the final outcome as his Birmingham Barons lost at Mississippi, 3-2.

After six rehab games in the Rookie-level Arizona League, where he went 4-for-17, the 21-year-old singled to center in the first inning, singled to left and scored in the fourth and doubled to right in the fifth. With the score tied and Trayce Thompson on first base after a leadoff single in the eighth, the Alabama native laid down a bunt to move the runner to second.

"I was kind of nervous at first," Anderson said. "But I kind of settled down, got back to normal and just relaxed and played my game."

Not including his brief stint out west, Friday was the first game for MLB.com's No. 85 overall prospect since June 27. Prior to going on the shelf, he batted .297/.323/.472 with six homers, seven triples, 18 doubles, 31 RBIs and 10 steals in 13 tries in 68 games for Class A Advanced Winston-Salem.

Before getting hit with the pitch that apparently caused his injury, Anderson recorded a career-high four hits for the Dash in a 4-1 win over Lynchburg on May 31.

With nine games left in the regular season and a possible playoff berth separating him from the offseason, Anderson is determined to make the most of whatever baseball is left.

"It's very important to me," he said. "I do want to get a lot of at-bats. I missed a lot of at-bats."

Kevan Smith and Jason Coats drove in the Barons' runs, while Mississippi's Seth Loman lifted a sacrifice fly to snap an eighth-inning tie.

Barons southpaw Nelvin Fuentes (0-1) took the loss after giving up one run on three hits in 1 1/3 innings. Braves righty Ryan Kelly (2-2) threw 1 2/3 hitless innings for the win.