LA Angels: Looking back on Howie Kendrick’s career with the Halos

On Monday, former Angels’ second baseman Howie Kendrick announced his retirement at the age of 37 via his Instagram.

It’s not every day you see both “former Angel” and “World Series Champion” on the same resume, but Kendrick is a special case. After being drafted in the 10th round in 2002 by the previously named Anaheim Angels, he quickly cultivated prospect hype. Aside from his first pro season at the age of 18, where he hit .318, he never had a season in the minors where he hit under .360. From his dominance of the minor leagues, he was listed as the 12th overall prospect on Baseball America’s 2006 preseason top 50 prospects list, and 5th on Baseball Prospectus’ top 50 list.

Heading into the 2006 season, the young second baseman had high expectations. Many people in baseball believed Kendrick could one day win a batting title, with one scout going on record to say he was “a batting title waiting to happen“, and another saying he “may never hit under .300“. Mike Scioscia, the Angels manager at the time, raved about the burgeoning Kendrick, saying he “has the potential to be an eye-popping offensive player.”

He made his Major League debut in 2006 at the young age of 22. It was, however, a brief stint. He had a measly 3 hits in his first 26 at bats (.115 BA) and was sent back down to the minors.

The demotion seemed to set a fire under Kendrick’s butt. When he returned 2 months later, he finished out the last 3 months slashing .351/.387/.532. During this stretch, he was able to instill enough confidence in him among Angels management that they let Adam Kennedy enter free agency, the following offseason. Kendrick was now the starting second baseman for the foreseeable future. He would go on to man the position for the next 8 years.

Halo Howie

During his time as a Halo, he always recorded a solid batting average, but never quite good enough to win that coveted batting title. As an Angel, he only hit above .300 twice, which fell short of the “may never hit under .300” bold prediction, but he consistently finished in the upper .200s, with his best season in 2007 where he hit .322, and his worst season in 2010 where he hit .279. Angels fans and management quickly knew what to expect from Kendrick. His .292/.332/.424 slash line as an Angel was never far off from any separate year. He was the epitome of consistency.

“Consistency” isn’t always synonymous with “boring”. He was always an exciting player to watch who made hard contact every time he hit the ball. Not only that but he also stole a souvenir from well-known Red Sox fan Ben Affleck, he rubbed it in even further by beating Affleck’s Sox 10-4 in the same game.

Despite being a solid contributor year-in-and-year-out, he only made 1 all-star appearance, which came during the 2011 season. During that season, he established himself as an elite defender, recording a 14.4 UZR, while at the same time posting career-bests in several categories. He hit 18 home runs, 63 RBI, and 15 stolen bases while slashing .285/.338/.464. For his efforts, the Angels rewarded him with a 4-year contract extension worth $33.5 million.

Kendrick would not play out the rest of that contract with the Angels. On December 11th, 2014, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for starting pitcher Andrew Heaney, ending the Howie era in Anaheim.

During his 9 years dawning the halo, he recorded 1204 hits (249 doubles, 30 triples, and 78  home runs), 534 runs, 501 RBI, and 95 stolen bases.