OC Register: Angels’ Anthony Rendon is a complete talent, wrapped in humility

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. — Eric Chavez had only been around Anthony Rendon for a few days when he realized he was seeing something special.

“Honestly,” Chavez said, “I just shake my head. It’s unbelievable.”

Chavez, a special assistant to Angels general manager Billy Eppler and a former Gold Glove third baseman, was so impressed that he told his 14-year-old son, Diego, he needed to come watch the Angels’ new third baseman work out.

“You have to come out here, and just see the way he works,” Chavez said. “There are some guys who in the cage are completely different than on the field and vice versa. He’s the same. Everything he does looks really easy and calm. If you look at him, he’s kind of just cool.”

Which is exactly the same scouting report you’d get on Rendon, 29, from the man who coached him 18 years ago, or the current teammate who has been tight with him since the day nine years ago when they signed their first pro contracts together.

The Angels, looking to plug their hole at third base and get a middle-of-the-order slugger to complement Mike Trout, ponied up $245 million in December to ink Rendon to a seven-year deal. Angels fans knew they were getting an MVP-caliber talent, a player who had just led the Washington Nationals to the franchise’s first World Series title.

Rendon hit .319 with 34 homers, 126 RBIs and a 1.010 OPS in 2019, amassing a WAR of 6.3, according to Baseball-Reference. He and Trout are two of just nine players in the majors who have produced at least 4.0 WAR each of the past three years.

“Anthony is probably one of the top five players in the game,” Albert Pujols said.

What those who have looked beyond the numbers would add, though, is that the Angels are also getting a guy who doesn’t merely perform, but does so in an impeccable manner, off the field as well as on it.

“He’s a kid who you say, ‘If I had a daughter, I’d want my daughter to marry that guy,’” said Willie Ansley, a former top prospect who became a youth coach in the Houston area and to this day remains close with Rendon. “He’s always been down to earth. He never got caught up in the hype or anything. He’s the same guy from the time he was little to high school. Even now, he hasn’t changed.”

Angels outfielder Brian Goodwin first met Rendon when they were brought to Nationals Park in 2011 to sign. The Nationals took Rendon with the sixth overall pick in the draft, and they grabbed Goodwin 28 picks later, in the supplemental first round. The two had never met, but by the end of that day, they were making arrangements to live together while playing in the instructional league.

“He brings great energy to the clubhouse,” Goodwin said. “He’s loose. You want to keep everybody loose, keep everybody smiling and comfortable and relaxed. It’s to make people feel at home.”

Rendon is comfortable with just about everyone, with the notable exception of reporters who come bearing questions about him. It’s clear that he enjoys his privacy and also that he is uncomfortable talking about himself.

After submitting to a recent interview, he conceded that it’s not his favorite part of the job.

“Oh man,” he said with a smile, “I just don’t like boasting about myself. I don’t want to be the center of attention. I’m just here to play baseball. I’m not going to be on social media or doing any commercials. I’m just here to do my job.”

EARLY INDICATORS

Baseball didn’t seem like Rendon’s future job when he was growing up in the Houston area. When he was young, he says he played much more basketball.

“It’s easier to go outside and play basketball,” Rendon said. “You can shoot around by yourself. Play pick-up. Whereas with baseball, no one likes putting a ball on a tee, hitting it, chasing it and putting it back on a tee. You need more than a few guys. So I was always in the neighborhood playing basketball with my friends.”

Rendon was small for his age, though, so he realized quickly that basketball wasn’t going to take him far. In his early years on the basketball court, “all I did was shoot threes,” he said. Even though he was still a productive player, coaches didn’t play him as much as he felt his skills warranted, so after his sophomore year of high school he ditched basketball.

Of course, he’d always been good at baseball too, as Ansley could attest. The Houston Astros’ first-round pick in 1988, Ansley topped out at Triple-A before embarking on a career coaching kids in Houston. One of them was a pint-sized 11-year-old with overflowing talent.

“He was a little bit different,” Ansley said. “He just had different things than the other kids, as far as instincts on the baseball field. A lot of stuff you can’t teach. He was really small at 11, but he had really good wrists and could hit the ball further than the bigger kids.”

Ansley, who coached Rendon on a travel team, spun stories about homers he’d hit and leaping bare-hand plays he’d made at third, leaving the adults in awe. Ansley tried to play Rendon at second, because of his size, but eventually realized that he was still the best athlete, so he forced his way to shortstop.

Ansley also was an assistant coach for a year with Rendon’s team at Lamar High. Ansley at one point got on Rendon because he felt like the kid was just swinging for the fences. Rendon proceeded to go 12 for 12 in a tournament, Ansley recalled.

“He hit line drive after line drive, just trying to prove that he wasn’t trying to hit a home run,” Ansley said.

It wasn’t just his physical tools, but his baseball intellect. Ansley said Rendon had an advanced idea of how to determine what pitchers were trying to do with him.

Despite hitting .570 his senior year and being the first-team all-state shortstop in his division, Rendon didn’t get picked in the 2008 draft until the Atlanta Braves selected him in the 27th round. Part of that was certainly that he was simply underrated, but scouts also knew that he had a full scholarship offer to Rice.

Rice coach Wayne Graham, a legend who helped the Owls become one of the nation’s preeminent programs during his 27 seasons there, saw something in Rendon. Graham, now 83, recalled a conversation he had with his assistant coaches the first time they watched Rendon take batting practice.

“You are looking at wrists that are similar to Hank Aaron,” Graham said. “You leave him alone and let him hit.”

Graham also invoked the name of Brooks Robinson when describing Rendon’s play at third.

“He has reflexes that are off the scale,” Graham said. “He’s not like other people.”

Rendon would be named the nation’s top freshman, on his way to a three-year torching of college pitchers. He hit .371 with a 1.189 OPS at Rice, good enough for the Nationals to select him with their first pick in 2011.

While Rendon was starring at Rice, Goodwin was doing the same at North Carolina. The two had never crossed paths in college, so their first meeting was that summer day in 2011 when the Nationals invited both – along with fellow draft pick Alex Meyer – to the ballpark to sign their deals.

After a night of waving to the fans, soaking up the atmosphere and getting to know each other, Rendon and Goodwin headed off together to work out with a Nationals’ short-season team in Auburn, N.Y. They moved through the farm system together, living together at several stops, and continually being catch partners during warm-ups. Reunited with the Angels, Rendon and Goodwin still throw together each day, even though infielders typically throw with other infielders.

Goodwin was impressed immediately with what he saw from Rendon on the field as well.

“Super quiet at the plate and super quick,” Goodwin said. “I’ve never seen him go through a swing change or anything like that. He just always had a professional approach, since Day One. He’s not afraid to let the ball get deep. He will shoot you the other way. They don’t call him Tony Two Bags for nothing.”

Actually, Rendon has changed since he earned that moniker early in his career. During Rendon’s first three seasons in the majors, he hit 33 homers in 1,432 plate appearances, which added up to a slugging percentage of .425.

Around the start of the 2016 season, though, he was encouraged to swing a little more aggressively to try to pull the ball early in the count. Initially, he said he over-corrected and just swung too hard. He realized that “less is more,” he said. He still took an aggressive approach early in the count, but under control, and Tony Two Bags became Tony Four Bags.

“I can take my chances earlier in the count and be aggressive and try to do some damage instead of just, you know, trying to flick the ball the other way,” Rendon said.

Since 2016, Rendon has a .528 slugging percentage, including a career-best .598 to go with his career-high 34 homers in 2019.

Those numbers helped the Nationals famously rally from a 19-31 start to make the playoffs, and then storm to a World Series title. Rendon went from popping champagne bottles to hitting the free agent market as the best position player available.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE, COMFORTABLE

He and agent Scott Boras had categorized the potential suitors, and Rendon admitted shortly after signing that the Angels weren’t initially on the short list of favorites. Rendon admitted after he signed that he was leery of “the Hollywood lifestyle” in California.

The Angels were able to convince Rendon that that wouldn’t be an issue playing in Anaheim. Goodwin also subtly suggested the Angels.

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“I thought he was going to play in Texas,” Goodwin said. “He didn’t ask me but I put some things out there that he should know this is the place for him.”

Rendon said he prefers to keep things simple, spending time with his family – he and his wife just welcomed their second daughter – and playing a little golf. He’s also an aficionado of muscle cars, with two Camaros to start his collection.

“If I kept buying cars, my wife would kill me,” he said. “We’re actually in the middle of building the house to fit my cars.”

When he’s at the park, he’s consumed with getting another taste of the championship champagne he just sipped with the Nationals. Asked if the Angels have the components to get him another ring, Rendon said they do have what he considered the most significant element that the 2019 Nationals brought to the table.

“The one thing that struck me most was the guys jelling,” Rendon said. “We had each other’s backs and we had this camaraderie. Here I feel comfortable already. From what I can see, the core guys that we have here, they’ve opened up their doors and allowed me to come in without skipping a beat.”

AND IT'S OUTTA HERE!

Anthony Rendon with a 3-run home run! @Angels | #LAASpring pic.twitter.com/4afSXQXb7H

— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) March 1, 2020

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[PattyD22]

He is just so relaxed at the plate.  His eye and plate discipline in amazing.  You normally don’t see a right handed hitter with as pure or as beautiful of a swing through the zone as Rendon does. 
 

I’ve seen lefties who I think have great swings.  Will Clark and Wally Joyner come to mind, but Rendon’s just looks better for some reason.  Can’t wait to see it in person in a few weeks.

[T.G.]

Some guys are easier to cheer for than others and Rendon is one of those guys you want to root for.  As fans we don't have any control over stuff like that, so it's great when our team does sign a guy like Rendon.  I never could cheer for Ian Kinsler.  I just couldn't.  I like having guys like Rendon on the team - and the fact that he's super talented makes it even better.

[Angel Oracle]

Will Trout walk less, now that pitchers can no longer pitch around him and have to face Ohtani, Rendon, and a healthy Upton? 

[failos]

He looks exactly like James Holden from The Expanse.

 

[Revad]

1 hour ago, Gene Aurty Moreno said:

He looks exactly like James Holden from The Expanse.

 

Now if we could just get an Amos to turn loose on the Astros, and maybe Naomi in the wings.

[totdprods]

I like this comp in a lot of ways...three-year averages below:

• Rendon: .310/.397/.556/.953, 143 OPS+, 5.5 bWAR
• Mystery: .324/.405/.581/.986, 151 OPS+, 5.1 bWAR
   
• Rendon: 43 2B, 2 3B, 28 HR, 73 BB, 83 K
• Mystery: 34 2B, 3 3B, 33 HR, 69 BB, 70 K

Rendon is one year older, but I see a lot of similarities in his offensive production and skill set and that of Vlad before he signed here. Quiet superstars who made a lot of contact, did not strike out much, and had a lot of power and consistency. 

If Rendon maintains like Vlad mostly did in his time here, this is a huge addition. It’ll define this ballclub’s next era. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by totdprods

[Pancake Bear]

3 hours ago, True Grich said:

Some guys are easier to cheer for than others and Rendon is one of those guys you want to root for.  As fans we don't have any control over stuff like that, so it's great when our team does sign a guy like Rendon.  I never could cheer for Ian Kinsler.  I just couldn't.  I like having guys like Rendon on the team - and the fact that he's super talented makes it even better.

I’ve loved the way he played for a long time. The more I learn about him, the more I like him. Really stoked he signed with us. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

Did anyone else read the headline as "Anthony Rendon is a complete twat?"