Heading into the fourth year of a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels, Anthony Rendon has yet to significantly impact the team anywhere but the payroll.
Outside of the 60-game season in 2020, his first year with the Angels, Rendon has played in just 157 of 384 possible games.
After beginning the year with a relatively clean bill of health, Rendon began to succumb to a nagging wrist injury, hitting the 10-day injured list in late May. The club decided to shut him down and elected that surgery was his best option.
Up to that point, Rendon held a .228/.324/.383 slash with five home runs, 24 RBI and a 103 wRC+ in 188 plate appearances. Major League Baseball also slapped him with a five-game suspension for his role in an on-field brawl with the Seattle Mariners in June.
Initial reports hinted that his season was effectively over, but a smooth and hasty rehab process allowed him to make it back for the final week of the regular season. This was especially important because he was able to clear his five-game ban, opening up his 2023 without any restrictions.
He logged just one hit in his final two games of the season, but getting his feel back and seeing game speed is valuable in and of itself.
Anthony Rendon 2022 highlight
In what was most likely his best day in a red hat, Rendon launched a two-run homer, plating Mike Trout to give the Angels a 3-1 lead on May 17 against the Texas Rangers. He would later add on an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning, but the pitching staff had allowed the game to get out of hand.
They would go on to lose 10-5.
2023 outlook
At 32 years old, Rendon enters a critical season for the Angels because of the failed return on a contract fit for a superstar. After winning the World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019, he was viewed as one of the top players on the open market, but he has yet to perform like that same guy.
He’s currently said to be feeling great ahead of Spring Training, and alongside Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Hunter Renfroe, Taylor Ward and others, Rendon must play up to his career-best potential.
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