clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Nationals' 3B Anthony Rendon kept hitting in NLDS: "Great player. Solid all around." - Bruce Bochy

Washington Nationals' manager Matt Williams, San Francisco Giants' manager Bruce Bochy, Nats' GM Mike Rizzo, Anthony Rendon's 2014 campaign and first postseason run impressed everyone who watched it. "Rendon put himself on the map," Rizzo said.

By Patrick Reddington
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Asdrubal Cabrera was 3 for 15 with a double and a home run. Ian Desmond was 3 for 18 with a walk and six Ks. Wilson Ramos was 2 for 17 with a walk and six Ks. Denard Span was 2 for 19. Jayson Werth was 1 for 17. Adam LaRoche was 1 for 18. Anthony Rendon was 7 for 19... wait, what?

Bryce Harper hit too, of course, connecting for three of the Washington Nationals' four home runs in the four-game series with the San Francisco Giants, and five hits overall, but Rendon's seven hits were the most by any Nats' hitter in the NLDS.

"Great player. Solid all around. Tough out. Very good third baseman. Runs well. This guy is a really nice player." -Giants' skipper Bruce Bochy on Anthony Rendon

In his first postseason run, the Nationals' 24-year-old, 2011 1st Round pick put up a .368/.400/.368 line, following up on a .287/.351/.473 regular season in which he hit 39 doubles, six triples and 21 HRs in 153 games and 683 plate appearances with a strong run in the Nats' disappointing return to October baseball.

Rendon finished at +6.6 fWAR in his second major league season, behind only Pittsburgh Pirates' outfielder Andrew McCutchen (+6.8) among NL Players in Fangraph's Wins Above Replacement.

Rendon's 111 runs scored in 2014 were the National League's highest and the third-highest total league-wide behind only the Twins' Brian Dozier and the Angels' Mike Trout.

"He's a good player," Giants' skipper Bruce Bochy told reporters before Game 4 in AT&T Park.

"Great player. Solid all around. Tough out. Very good third baseman. Runs well. This guy is a really nice player. He probably could play anywhere in the infield, too.

"I think Washington has a guy they are going to keep for a long time there."

"He's patient. He understands what he does well. He works at‑bats and works counts. He'll hit early sometimes... He hits the ball to all fields..." - Matt Williams on Nats' 2011 1st Round pick Anthony Rendon

Nats' skipper Matt Williams too talked about the preternaturally calm infielder's unflappable demeanor, even on the biggest stage he's played on thus far.

"I think he's been the same old guy we've seen for the last six months," Williams said after Rendon went 0 for 4 with a K in Game 4, the only game of the NLDS in which he was hitless.

"It started on Opening Day," Williams continued, "and has not subsided yet. He's patient. He understands what he does well. He works at‑bats and works counts. He'll hit early sometimes depending on whether he knows the pitcher well or he has a sense of what the pitcher is going to try to do.

"He hits the ball to all fields, which always helps, because if you can spray the ball around a little bit, you've got a better chance of getting more hits.

Will Denard Span return to the Nationals in 2015?

 Photo © Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports

"So I just think his demeanor has been really good all year. You look at him and go, he looks like a 30‑year‑old that's been in the league for six or seven years. We continue to forget how young he really is.

"But he's a professional hitter. He understands how to hit and what to do, and he's just continuing to do that."

"Rendon put himself on the map as one of the really bright players in the game," Nats' GM Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.'s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier on Thursday when asked which Nationals really stood out for him this season.

Two years into his major league career, Rendon is just getting started...

More From Federal Baseball