Angels’ Anthony Rendon says baseball has ‘never been a top priority for me’ headed into spring training
Anthony Rendon has played in just 200 of a possible 546 games with the Angels due to various injuries the past four seasons
Don’t get him wrong: Anthony Rendon likes his job.
But that’s exactly what it is for the Los Angeles Angels third baseman. Just a job.
“It’s never been a top priority for me,” Rendon said Monday about baseball as he reported to spring training, via The Athletic. “This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving.”
The comments sound very similar to how Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić feels about his job. Jokić, after leading the Nuggets to an NBA title last season, was immediately ready to get home to Serbia. He didn’t even want to go to the team’s championship parade at first.
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Rendon is set to enter his fifth season with the Angels this spring. The 33-year-old signed a seven-year, $245 million deal with the team in 2019 after he helped lead the Washington Nationals to a World Series title. He played in just 43 games last season, however, due to a shin injury and an early-season suspension. In fact, Rendon hasn’t played in more than 58 games in a season with the Angels due to various injuries, and he has appeared in just 200 of the 546 games he could have played.
He had 35 hits and 22 RBI last season, both of which were career lows, and he held a .236 batting average.
While Rendon isn’t hiding how he ranks his priorities, which he credits in part to being married and having children, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about baseball at all.
“Oh, it’s a priority for sure, because it’s my job,” he said. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
The Angels went 73-89 last season and missed the playoffs for a ninth straight season. They open the season against the Baltimore Orioles on March 28.
While he knows it’d be easy for fans to criticize him, Rendon isn’t bothered by it one bit.
“They don’t know me,” he said. “They only know the surface area there. They’re fans, right? They might know that I’m 6 feet tall and 190 pounds, but they don’t know who I am as an individual.
“Barry Bonds is arguably the greatest player to ever play this game, and people still hate him. You can’t make everybody happy. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I don’t want to have surgeries. You think I like going under the knife and being in pain the majority of my time? I can’t pick up my kids. I can’t walk. You think I enjoy that? I don’t want to do that.”
