Los Angeles Angels: Anthony Rendon’s patience is added bonus
After a slow start to open up the year, Los Angeles Angels 3B Anthony Rendon has really come on and his patience at the plate is an added bonus.
When the Los Angeles Angels threw $245M at Anthony Rendon this past offseason, they knew they were getting a great hitter.
Coming off a World Series title with the Washington Nationals, Rendon was known as a clutch hitter. The past two seasons he has lead the Nationals League in doubles. Last season he had a career-high 34 home runs to go along with 126 runs batted in, the best in baseball.
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What you may not have known about Rendon, is his patience at the plate and his discipline of the strike zone. He is on pace to have more walks this year than strikeouts, for the second time in his career.
Rendon got off to a very slow start to the year. After sixteen games he was hitting just .192. During that stretch, he was able to draw 19 walks. He may not have been hitting the cover off of the ball, but he was getting on base at a great clip.
This is nothing new for Rendon. In college, at Rice University, he walked more than he struck out. This was just one of the reasons the Nationals used a first-round pick on him. Rendon spent a brief amount of time at AA-Harrisburg before being called up to the Nationals in 2013. At that stop, he walked more than he struck out as well.
Having Rendon hit behind Mike Trout and ahead of Shohei Ohtani, shines a spotlight on his pickiness at the plate.
Rendon leads the team in walks, is second on the team in home runs, and second in total extra-base hits.
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If the Angels can find some pitching to go along with their core of great hitters, this team will be one to avoid in the future.