When the Angels originally teamed up for the 2020 season in February, the biggest strength of the team was its failure.
The lineup featured star Mike Trout, not even a month away from accepting his third MVP trophy. It included a completely healthy Shohei Ohtani for the first time since 2018.
And between them stood Anthony Rendon, fresh from winning the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals and signing a $ 245 million contract to play seven years at Anaheim.
Six months fast forward, past the shutdown of spring training and the month-long hiatus caused by the outbreak of coronavirus. The three players still form the core of the Angels’ batting order. And they produce very different results for a team that ranks among the least in offensive production.
Trout homered four times in the first four games he played after becoming a father and has a .928 on-base-plus-slash percentage. Ohtani strikes the ball in the air again, but strikes out more than ever.
Then there’s Rendon, right after the worst 12-game start of his career. When his hitless streak stretched to 28 plate appearances in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, Rattingon’s handball average dropped to .103.
In six years as a contender in the Nationals lineup, the only time Rendon battled was less than .265 through 12 games was in 2015.
This season, Rendon has four hits in 39 at-bats, including a double and a homer, and he has struck out 12 times. The bright spot in his batting line: 14 walks.
Rendon is the only Angel with at least 50 record appearances to play below .260 alongside Justin Upton, who was moved to a plateau last week.
Manager Joe Maddon does not think Rendon feels pressure to honor his contract, the biggest deal for free agents awarded by owner Arte Moreno.
“He has that slow heartbeat,” Maddon said, referring to Rendon’s rest from marking the record. “He looks the same to me.”
After all, Maddon thinks the early start to Rendon’s Angels’ career may be due to the off-and-on nature of the 2020 season.
“I look at his work and it looks good,” Maddon said. ‘You’re talking to Anthony, there’s no BS. It’s been up all the time and it would be hard for him to hide his feelings. That he feels better. I know the results are not there yet. …. He still accepts his walks, which I really like. He does not necessarily expand. He just misses his pitch. ‘
There is credibility to the idea that Rendon only needs to adjust his timing on the record. Rendon hits the ball at a starting angle of 26.9 degrees. In general, a launch angle between 25 and 30 degrees is correlated with improved force numbers – but only if the hitter can connect the barrel of his bat to the ball. Rendon has a hard time finding that sweet spot.
Maddon said late last week that Angels striking coaches brought a solution to Rendon’s attention, but he did not act. Whatever it was, the suggestion did not help the Angels to prevent a series of sweeps by the Rangers.
Rendon struck out in three of his nine at-bats in Arlington, Texas. He worked multiple deep counts. The six pitches he put into play were easily handled by defenders. Only one – the sixth-final flyball from Sunday to center field that advanced base runner Ohtani, who doubled for Rendon and eventually scored the Angels’ third run – traveled off the field.
Hours earlier, the Angels split the bats in the lineup to prevent the four left-handers from stacking up who started the series final on Sunday. Rendon finished fifth in the handball order for the first time since 2017.
The move did little to change the fortunes of the Angels. They were hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position. They left nine on base.
The problems lie outside Rendon. But he’s an important piece of the puzzle that Maddon believes the Angels will put together well.
“We haven’t put our whole game together yet,” he said. “And that’s part of why I feel pretty good about it.”
