This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- Brian Anderson spent part of April 24 with Rick Hahn and Brooks Boyer at Guaranteed Rate Field.

No, this is not a return to the 2008 White Sox season, when Anderson played 109 games for the South Siders. Instead, this is a look at Anderson’s current life as an assistant coach for the baseball team at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he currently resides with his wife, Danielle, and 8-month-old daughter, Scarlett.

Mondays are off-days for the team, but Anderson was taking in high school baseball action between New Trier and Montini Catholic, featuring players who could someday join the Wildcats.

Hahn, the White Sox general manager, was there to watch his son, Charlie, strike out three over two innings on the mound. Quinn Boyer, the son of the White Sox senior vice president, chief revenue and marketing officer, plays center field for Montini.

It was a surreal experience for all involved.

“Brooks asked, ‘What’s the first thing you think of when you look a out there?’” Anderson told MLB.com of a conversation he had with Boyer while Boyer’s son was in center field at the Rate. “I said, ‘Well I think your son is playing 20 feet too far to the left from where I made that catch. Tell him to scoot over a bit.’”

Anderson’s most historic big league moment came on that diving catch in center, completing a 1-0 White Sox victory over the Twins in the tie-breaking Blackout Game to finish the 2008 American League Central title in Chicago. The 41-year-old eventually tried pitching in the Minors for the Royals and the Yankees to keep things going, but his on-field time really is just beginning.

“My mom and my wife always said, ‘We think you are happiest when your feet are touching the grass,’” Anderson said. “I know I can’t play anymore. My body for sure tells me that now. I wish I cared as much about my own career as I do with these kids. It’s nuts.”

I’ve known Anderson since he was the team’s top pick in the 2003 Draft. He’s always been engaging and hilarious, but by his own admission, had the talent to be more productive as a Major Leaguer.

I also remember Anderson telling me years ago how he wanted to get into coaching at some level, and he has now moved from an undergraduate assistant at his alma mater (the University of Arizona) while finishing his degree, to assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Pima Community college in Arizona, to head coach Jim Foster’s staff at Northwestern. It’s a staff that also features Dennis Cook, who pitched 15 years in the Majors, including 38 games for the 1994 White Sox.

Northwestern has an 8-38 record. But, after joining the staff on March 28, Anderson will have a chance to go full force into the program following the season. Anderson also visited Nazareth Academy before getting to the Rate on that evening of April 24, watching Landon Thome play for the highly touted Roadrunners.

Hall-of-Famer Jim Thome is a coach for his son’s Nazareth varsity team and was a former teammate of Anderson’s with the White Sox. He has been a great influence on Anderson’s next career step.

“One thing Jim and I have talked about is life after baseball. He’s found his niche being a husband and father, and being able to coach his son’s team, but also being the special assistant with the White Sox and filling in on MLB Network,” Anderson said. “He has a nice busy schedule. I told him my desire.

“I said, 'You don’t realize how much you miss baseball until you are away from it.' You share their success and the joy and it’s such an emotional drain, good or bad. When they play really well, you are super excited. When they struggle, it really takes its toll on me. I never imagined how much I would really care about another career until I got into coaching.”