Rendon trying to find consistency amid injuries
D.J. Short explains the tough position Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon has put fantasy managers in.
Video Transcript
DJ SHORT: Shohei Ohtani has picked up a lot of the slack for the Angels' offense with Mike Trout sidelined, but Anthony Rendon has been strangely quiet. As of Thursday, July 1, he's batting just .233 with five home runs and a .686 OPS through 55 games this season. His approach remains excellent, even with a slight uptick in strikeouts, but he just hasn't been making much in the way of solid contact.
Rendon rebounded after a rough start with the Angels last year, but we saw some warning signs there too as his barrel rate was slashed in half compared to his monster 2019 campaign with the Nationals. That has carried over to this year so far, so his .259 batting average on balls in play isn't all about bad luck. According to Baseball Savant, his expected batting average sits at .240, and his expected slugging is at .383, so he's earned the poor production to date.
The big thing to keep in mind so far this year is that Rendon has been banged up, missing time with groin, knee, and triceps injuries. That's undoubtedly impacted his production. You also have to wonder if the new baseball has been a factor. Fantasy managers unfortunately have no choice but to just hold and hope that the track record wins out.