3 surprising players who are off to strong starts for the Angels

Tim Anderson

Are you aware of how good Tim Anderson has been defensively so far?

Timmy A ranks eighth in the league in defensive fWAR for his play at both second base and shortstop. He has been absolutely electric -- he makes both the routine and highlight plays due to his elite range and instincts up the middle. He clearly has been the biggest recipient of Ron Washington's encyclopedic knowledge of infield defense.

Anderson's stabilizing presence in the infield is a welcome sight for Angels pitchers for a couple reasons. Angels pitchers, especially the starting pitchers, predominantly get their outs via ground outs. Angels starters rank eighth in the league in ground ball percentage. Specifically on the staff so far, Garrett McDaniels, José Soriano, Ian Anderson, and Jack Kochanowicz are the leaders in generating ground balls. The other reason is this -- the Angels pitchers have been awful so far this season, so imagine how much worse it would be if Anderson was not one of the best defensive players in the league thus far?

Anderson's playing time moving forward will be interesting to monitor with Zach Neto returning any day now, but he absolutely should be playing second base on most days to continue making up for Angels pitchers' inability to miss barrels. Fans might have expected solid defense from Anderson when the Angels signed him to a minor league contract in the offseason, but his upper echelon glove-work is certainly taking many by surprise.

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