The Nationals team that arrived in Anaheim for a three-game series this week, for example, is unrecognizable to Rendon. Just two healthy players — Patrick Corbin and Victor Robles — remain from the championship roster that was gutted for a rebuild.
Then there’s Rendon. Three seasons ago, the Angels’ third baseman was a first-time dad at his professional peak, solidifying himself as a star on the sport’s biggest stage. That seems like forever ago to him. He’s now a busy father with four children under the age of five and a baseball player simply trying to stay on the field.
Rendon, 32, was riddled by injuries the last two seasons, appearing in just 105 games during the span. He needed season-ending hip surgery in 2021 and season-ending wrist surgery in 2022. His 2023 season began with a sign that the physical setbacks took a mental toll, too.
It’s been nearly two weeks since Rendon’s physical altercation with a fan after the Angels’ loss to the Athletics in Oakland on opening night. He was still trying to make sense of his actions Tuesday, wondering why he let a man’s words provoke him to that extent. He said he figures his frustration that night — he twice failed to produce with runners in scoring position — coupled with the last two years’ worth of disappointment was a factor.
“I don’t know what it was,” Rendon said. “It just got to me, for whatever reason. I don’t know. Whether it’s just the grind of the last handful of years, just being through so much stuff. I don’t know.”
Rendon’s decision to grab the man by his shirt produced a four-game suspension after an appeal. He said he spoke with the fan after the incident and they apologized to each other. He noted he’s enjoyed bantering with fans over the years and that won’t change.
For most players the squabble would’ve been just a bad decision. For Rendon it represented the latest snag since signing his $245-million contract with the Angels in December 2019 — a list that includes two surgeries for himself and one for his wife, Amanda, while parenting four children during a pandemic in a new home.
“It’s just a lot of stuff that’s happened over the last [three] years,” Rendon said. “It just compounded one way or another. I was actually talking to my wife about it. Like, ‘Man, we’ve been through a lot of crap.’ I’m one to hold it in and maybe that was the moment that made me explode for whatever reason and it sucks.”
There was a time when everything came easier for Rendon at work, when his natural talent, highlighted by a level of hand-eye coordination matched by few peers, shined on most nights because he was on the field most nights.
He flew under the radar for his first six years with the Nationals, quietly becoming one of the best third basemen in the majors. In his seventh, he made his first (and only) All-Star team, posted a 1.010 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, led the majors with 44 doubles, and won the World Series.
The breakout came at the right time — going into free agency — and he cashed in that winter, signing a seven-year deal to join forces with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
Rendon was healthy and met expectations in his first campaign in Anaheim, batting .286 with a .915 OPS in 52 games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Then the injuries surfaced and the frustration bubbled.
His children, he said, have helped keep him grounded. Gone are the days he could focus on watching his beloved Houston Rockets or the NCAA basketball tournament; the television at home is now always on Nickelodeon or Disney or Angels games to watch him play.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
“They don’t know if I got a hit or made an error,” Rendon said. “They’re always smiling ear to ear. They don’t care. It’s amazing. It puts things even more in perspective than I feel like I already had. Why am I stressing so much about this or so much about that? It’s like, who cares what the media say about me? Who cares about what fans say? My family is my most important thing in my life. My family is going to be here when baseball goes away.”
Does he still believe he can perform at a high level before it does?
“I think at times I have the ability to be, right?” Rendon said. “I mean, I’ve been playing this game [in the majors] for, 10, 11 years, whatever it’s been, and it’s definitely taken a toll on my body.
“I think my body’s just aging and I got to figure out a new way of how to battle the season. Just how to prepare myself each and every day and how do I recover back home when I’m not here at the field. Just making diet decisions and whatnot, trying to keep myself in the best position to be ready every day. It’s weird.”
He was recently reminded of the strange reality. Rendon occasionally entered games as a pinch-runner early in his career. On Sunday, he was on the other end when Brett Phillips pinch-ran for him after he was hit by a pitch in the left shoulder with two outs in the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“I was like, ‘I’ve never been pinch-ran for in my life,’” Rendon recalled. “But it made sense because Phillips is obviously faster by a lot. I would’ve done it too. But it feels like it was just yesterday where I was coming up and pinch-running for guys. It’s crazy how much time flies.”
The hit by pitch sliced the Blue Jays’ lead from three to two runs and kept the bases loaded. Hunter Renfroe then delivered a two-run double to tie the score before Angels lost 12-11 in 10 innings. Rendon didn’t play Monday against the Nationals because the shoulder was still sore.
“He needed to take it and go to first because he felt like it was going to help the team and keep the line moving and it did,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “To question anybody’s toughness like that … [like] I think some people do, is just wrong.”
Rendon returned to the lineup Tuesday, going 0 for 1 with two walks and a sacrifice fly that drove in the first run in the Angels’ 2-0 win. It was a subtle sequence that made a significant difference. For one night, at least, the frustrations were forgotten.