Rice Baseball: Anthony Rendon red-hot with Washington Nationals

Rice baseball product Anthony Rendon is currently mashing his way through the MLB, riding one of the hottest streaks of his professional career.

Anthony Rendon earned the Howser Trophy when he was named National Player of the Year with the Owls in 2010. He later went on to be a first-round pick of the Washington Nationals in 2011 and been a successful big leaguer ever since. Currently in his sixth season in the bigs, Rendon is having one of the best stretches of his career.

A career .280 hitter with a decent amount of pop, Rendon has had a two-week stretch to remember. Beginning on June 17 against the Blue Jays, Rendon currently carries a nine-game hitting streak in which he’s been red-hot. He’s hit three home runs, six doubles and driven in seven RBI. Over the course of the nine games, Rendon is slashing .438/.471/.875. That’s an astounding 1.346 OPS. There are few hitters in the MLB seeing the baseball as well as he is right now.

Despite Rendon’s successes, the Nationals haven’t fared well. They’ve gone just 3-6 against the Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Phillies and Rays in that stretch. The Yankees are a real World Series contender, but the rest of those clubs shouldn’t be able to keep up with the Nats’ firepower at the plate or arms on the mound. Regardless of the outcome, Rendon has done his part.

As of the latest update, Rendon wasn’t in the top-5 of the National League All-Star voting recipients at third base. He trails the Rockies’ Nolan Arendo, the Cubs’ Kris Bryant, the Braves’ Johan Camargo, the Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and the Dodgers’ Justin Turner. Perhaps an electrifying finish to the first half will be enough to change the minds of enough voters to earn Rendon his first All Star selection of his career.