LA Angels: This Angel could quietly move on to Phase 2 of All-Star voting

LA Angels fans essentially know for a fact that Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout will be moving on to Phase 2 of All-Star Game voting.

They’ve been leading the pack at their respective positions for each All-Star Game standings update.

Jared Walsh is on the cusp too. All three of those guys are having great years, but there’s another Angel who isn’t having a great year by any means, who still has a chance to move on to Phase 2 on Sunday.

Anthony Rendon is two spots away from the top three of All-Star voting for AL third basemen.

Anthony Rendon has disappointed this year. He still shows flashes of greatness, but he also is still hitting .230/.305/.342 with four home runs and 30 RBI. He hasn’t even been healthy, playing in just 49 games to this point (all statistics in this article are as of June 24th).

Despite his numbers being down, fans around the league respect Rendon to where he had collected six percent of the All-Star vote for AL third basemen when the second All-Star voting standings were released.

It makes sense, as Rendon has given baseball some great memories in recent memory. He was a huge contributor to the Washington Nationals World Series run in 2019, and was both an All-Star and top three MVP candidate that year. He was awarded a Silver Slugger that year, and it wasn’t his first time.

It made sense as to why the Angels signed him to be the second-highest average annual earner in Major League Baseball ($35 million). He was so good in the past that people still consider him in the conversation of the best third basemen in the AL, even when he hasn’t played like it this year.

I hope you voted for him, because he was very much still alive in the All-Star race. Keep an ear out for him on Sunday when the top three vote getters at each position for each league are announced to move into Phase 2 of All-Star voting (top nine for each league in the outfield).

This would be huge for Rendon if he could stay in All-Star consideration. He’s having the worst year of his career, and this recognition could serve as a huge confidence builder for the former star.

Players don’t just lose talent. Rendon is certainly capable of being an All-Star. Hopefully, we got him to Phase 2 so he can go out and prove it as the All-Star break approaches.