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TEMPE, Ariz. — Angels third baseman Antonio Rendon has a business relationship with baseball and made it clear Monday that he has other top priorities in his life.
Rendón, who signed a seven-year contract worth $245 million Before the 2020 season, he said he had always had the same opinion about playing baseball, even when he was selected by the Nationals with the sixth overall pick in 2011. The 33-year-old said his opinions have only been reinforced since he got married. . in 2017 and raising four children.
“This has never been a top priority,” Rendon said. “This is a job. I do this for a living. My faith and my family come first before this job. So if those things come sooner, I will move on.”
Rendon, however, said he is not looking to retire as he believes he still has a lot to offer and is looking to stay healthy for the first time since the shortened 2020 season. He said he simply has a different perspective than other players.
“To be honest, my enthusiasm has been the same since I was selected,” Rendón said. “I was actually deleting old emails because my storage is maxing out. And that’s why I’ve been going back to deleting old emails. I emailed myself the pros and cons of why I wanted to stay in the game. This was in 2014. That’s why my thinking about the game hasn’t changed since then.”
Rendón said he understands the fans’ reaction but in the end it doesn’t bother him because they don’t know what he’s really like.
“If they want to make me look like a certain type of person because I want to see my family more, that’s fine,” Rendon said. “They don’t know me. They only know the surface level. “Everyone will have their opinion, you can’t make everyone happy.”
Manager Ron Washington welcomed Rendon’s comments and said he has no problem with Rendon’s priorities, noting that he has had a solid career, including playing in the postseason four times and leading the Nationals to the World Series title in 2019. .
“They asked him what was important and all he said was his family and his faith,” Washington said. “He’s here. He’s going to get there to go on this journey with us through this 162-game baseball season. He wasn’t saying he doesn’t care about baseball. He’s here, fired up and ready to go.”
Rendón said he is excited to work with washington, who is considered a great communicator and an expert box coach. He also met with first base coach Bo Porter, who has been a longtime mentor to Rendon, as Porter was in the Washington organization when Rendon was drafted and they both live in the Houston area.
“I have had many run-ins with him,” Rendón said of Washington. “Obviously, he was with Atlanta during my years in DC. That’s why I chatted with him practically every time he was on third base. So we have a pretty good relationship. “We have similar personalities, so we fit together pretty well.”
Rendon knows that staying on the field is the biggest key for him this season, so he said he modified some of his offseason routines to get stronger this year. He played only 58 games in 2021, 47 in 2022 and 43 in 2023. But he said he’s trying not to put a specific number in mind because he’s fallen short in recent years.
“That’s a great question because I feel like the last few years I’ve been setting expectations for myself, setting goals and I don’t know if I’ve been cursing myself or not,” Rendon said. “I’m literally trying to take it one day at a time. If only I could survive one more day. I’m happy.”
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