Washington Nationals’ Anthony Rendon deserves more All-Star consideration

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and National League third basemen raking across the board.

With names like Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, Justin Turner and Jake Lamb manning the hot corner in the Senior Circuit, it’s understandable to see why Anthony Rendon is left on the outside looking in at the All-Star Game fan vote.

According to the latest ballot update, Rendon ranks fourth with 295,369 votes — well behind leader Bryant and his 895,752 mark.

Despite the slow start he had, Rendon caught fire in May and never looked back.

Entering play Thursday, the Houston native sits at .291/.392/.533 with a .925 OPS, 11 home runs, 13 doubles, 36 RBIs and 29 runs scored in 232 plate appearances.

Dusty Baker talked to reporters in May about how valuable Rendon has been this season.

“Anthony is a guy that can hit all over the order. He’s one of the few guys that feels comfortable he’s going to be Anthony. Last year at the All-Star Break I set a goal for him and he succeeded and surpassed that. You just want Anthony to be healthy and strong.”

Rendon has also put together one of the greatest single-game performances in MLB history this season, going 6-for-6 with three homers, two doubles, five runs scored and 10 RBI on April 30 against the New York Mets.

Among qualified third baseman, Rendon is tied with Bryant for the best OPS+ in the NL (142) and stands alone at the top for wRC+ (144).

If WAR is more your speed, Rendon is tied with Arenado at 2.4 according to Fangraphs and ranks just behind him by Baseball Reference’s calculations (Arenado 3.1, Rendon 2.8).

The Baseball Writers Association of America has taken the rise of sabermetrics in stride, voting in Tim Raines to the Hall of Fame this past year and giving more consideration to players who don’t have the traditional numbers everyone used to look for.

All-Star voting is by no means a Hall of Fame ballot, but players like Rendon deserve more attention for the seasons they’re having.

With Bryant essentially already locking the fan vote up, it’ll be up to his peers or the Commissioner’s Office to decide who fills out the rest of the NL roster.

Arenado has the pedigree, Turner the spotlight and Lamb the home runs, but Rendon has been the better overall hitter two months into the season.

“He plays an outstanding third base, he’s an outstanding baserunner and this is Anthony early,” Baker said. “Last year Anthony came on late, just like Jayson Werth did, and so you hope that they’re — when the weather heats up they’ll heat up even more.”