Tim Anderson has seen what Brad Keller has to say. And he’s not having it.
Keller recently made an appearance on The Charity Stripe podcast and was asked all about his intentional plunking of Anderson following the White Sox star shortstop’s bat flip heard ‘round the baseball world last year.
Keller, as was made clear when he threw at Anderson as apparent punishment for breaking the unwritten rule of “no celebrating allowed,” was not a fan.
“How he acted after (hitting the home run), to me and my whole team, was just over the top,” Keller said. “It's like, 'Bro, you hit a homer. Congrats.' This wasn't a Game 7 homer. This wasn't a playoff homer. This wasn't even a homer to win the game. Ultimately, we won the game, 3-2, in the long run, but that gets kind of lost in the whole transaction of everything.
“It just seemed like, at the time, it was an April home run. 'Why are you throwing your bat to the dugout or whatever?' We had beefs in the past, as far as our teams, and that was just like fuel on the fire, basically, is what it seemed like.
“I was upset because I was grinding that day and I was already pissed off at myself, and then you pull some s**t like that? It was like, 'All right, this is bulls**t.' ... I come in, and I'm pissed, I'm hot. And I had other guys on the team like, 'Screw this guy,' basically. Like I said, we (the Royals) had beefs (with Anderson) in the past.”
Well, Anderson — on a quest to break what he called baseball’s “have fun barrier” — isn’t about to apologize. In fact, he let Keller know that he isn’t going anywhere.
Major League Baseball and the players’ union seem to have a big divide to bridge on economic and health-and-safety issues if there’s going to be a 2020 season. But if baseball returns this year, Anderson will likely have another chance to swing against Keller.
To be fair, he had a few more after getting plunked April 17. Keller faced the White Sox three more times after that game, which was already his second start of the season against the South Siders. Anderson played in just one of those games and went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
MLB
Should the league’s proposed altered schedule for a shortened 2020 season become a reality, the White Sox and Royals would square off 13 times during the regular season, plenty of opportunity for the reigning big league batting champ to test out a few new flips.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the White Sox easily on your device.