The Los Angeles Angels have been stuck in baseball purgatory for several seasons. Forever the “little brother” to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tinseltown, the Angels have posted year after year of mediocre results while reaching for several high-priced free agents that have flamed out.
Anaheim’s poster boy for money poorly spent has been third baseman Anthony Rendon. The former All-Star has muddled through four-plus seasons plagued by injury and poor performance after starring for the Washington Nationals.
However, a ray of light shone through the darkness at Angel Stadium Friday night. Hitless in his last 81 games played by Los Angeles, Rendon stroked a single against the Boston Red Sox to raise his batting average to .044 this season.
However, despite Rendon’s big night — he also walked once — the Angels still lost 8-6.
Angels shelled out big money for Rendon
Rendon was one of the top players in baseball over seven seasons with the Nationals. He finished in the top 11 in NL MVP voting four times with Washington, highlighted by his 2019 campaign. Rendon won his second Silver Slugger Award after batting .319 with 34 home runs, an NL-leading 44 doubles, and an MLB-best 126 RBIs.
In his final season with the Nationals, the Houston, Tex., native finished behind just Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich in the MVP voting before helping Washington win the only World Series title in team history.
On the heels of his best MLB season, Rendon signed a seven-year, $245 million free-agent contract with the Angels. That deal has come to be known as one of the largest free-agent busts in league history.
Prior to the start of the 2024 campaign, Rendon rankled many with comments that baseball is not his “top priority.”
Injuries, Inconsistency have plagued Rendon’s Time With Angels
Rendon has not played more than 58 games in any of his previous four seasons with Los Angeles due to a plethora of injuries.
His time with the Angels started decently enough. He batted .286 with nine homers and 31 RBIs over the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season. That was good enough to place tenth in the American League MVP balloting.
However, Rendon’s performances have continued to slide every season since for the Angels. In just over four years with the Angels, he has batted just .242 with 22 homers and 111 RBIs in 206 total games. During seven seasons with the Nationals, hit .290 with 136 homers and 546 RBIs in 916 games.
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.