Washington Nationals: Anthony Rendon Gets the Recognition He Deserves
Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon, after multiple years of getting snubbed, finally gets his recognition as one of the games’ elite players.
It finally happened. Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon is an All-Star.
Despite garnering MVP votes in 2014, 2017, and 2018, Rendon was named to his first all-star team Sunday night.
It is a long overdue recognition for one of the games least-talked about superstars.
Since the start of the 2017 season, Rendon is slashing .306/.390/.551. Despite the massive increase in strikeouts around Major League Baseball, Rendon K’s in a miniscule14.0% of his plate appearances.
All of Rendon’s stats can be summarized into Wins Above Replacement, or “WAR.” Using Fangraphs.com’s “WAR” calculation, Rendon ranks 4th in the MLB since the start of the ’17 season. The three players above him are Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and Christian Yelich.
Betts and Yelich won MVP awards in 2018, and Trout is the undisputed best player in baseball. That is excellent company for the Nationals’ star to keep.
However, Rendon shouldn’t just want to “fit in” with those players. He should want to stand out on his own and win the MVP award too. This season, he is making a strong case for it.
In 2019, Rendon is slashing .311/.398/.611 with a 158 wRC+, which ranks 3rd in the National League behind Cody Bellinger and Yelich.
Rendon is scorching the ball, recording a “hard hit” (a batted ball with a 95.0 mile per hour or greater exit velocity) 51.2% of the time.
Another aspect of Rendon’s game is his impeccable plate discipline. Rendon swings at pitches outside of the strike zone on only 23.3% of such occurrences, which ranks 13th best in baseball out of 161 qualified hitters.
Additionally, when Rendon does swing at a pitch, he typically doesn’t miss. His swinging strike rate of 6.0% ranks 13th among qualified hitters.
Certainly, Rendon doesn’t post the gaudy power numbers other top players do, but it is the little things like his plate discipline and his excellent defense that make him so special.
His game is so well-rounded that there isn’t much he doesn’t do well. Sure, he doesn’t steal double-digit bases like he used to, but if the tradeoff is better production in the batter’s box, it is a no-brainer.
Next. Nats 1B Rotation. dark
With 79 games still to play, there is plenty of time for Rendon to continue his incredible season and make a run at some hardware in the fall. But for now, he should try to enjoy his time as an All-Star in Cleveland next week.