3 players not named Trout or Ohtani who need to step up in Anthony Rendon's absence

The Los Angeles Angels will be without Anthony Rendon for the near future as he was placed on the Injured List yesterday. Rendon's absence will undoubtedly hurt the team as even with his diminished power Rendon had been having a very solid offensive season, but this injury also shouldn't ruin the Angels season as the other injuries have in years past.

With Rendon out, the Angels will obviously need even more from Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. The two superstars did step up last night as Trout had a pair of hits and Ohtani, despite a rough night on the mound, was a double shy of the cycle.

The entire team as a whole stepped up in Rendon's absence. The Angels scored nine runs on 17 hits in their victory in Baltimore. The Angels scored nine runs or more with Rendon on the Injured List last season a grand total of six times in the 3+ months he was out, so seeing them do it against a good team on the road on the first night without him was a good sign.

While that was definitely encouraging, these kinds of outputs shouldn't be expected every night, even when Rendon is healthy. The Angels will need a lot of help from their supporting cast to stay afloat without Rendon. It can't only be Trout and Ohtani. Here are three players who really need to step up.

1) LA Angels outfielder Taylor Ward needs to step up in Anthony Rendon's absence

With Anthony Rendon out, it's pretty safe to name Taylor Ward as the third-best hitter on the team. Hunter Renfroe is the big power bat, but when right, Taylor Ward gets on base a ton and is a huge asset to the Angels.

The Angels are 16-7 when Ward records a hit and are 4-0 when he hits a home run. Small sample size sure, but when Ward contributes, the offense looks very different.

A big reason for that is Ward is this team's leadoff hitter. When he gets on base in front of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, the team is far more likely to score a run. Last night Ward had two hits in his six at-bats and the team scored nine runs.

After a month-long slump, Ward has seemed to turn it around a bit in the month of May, hitting .320 with five multi-hit games in the 12 games he's played this month. He's raised his average from .208 to .244 in the process.

With Rendon out, the Angels need guys who can get on base. Rendon hadn't been hitting for much power, but he was getting on base at an extraordinary clip. When right, Ward does that. That's what the Angels need from him.

3) LA Angels infielder Brandon Drury has to step up in Anthony Rendon's absense

Truth be told, all of Gio Urshela, Luis Rengifo, and Brandon Drury really have to step up with Rendon out, but Urshela is who he is at this point, and Rengifo I don't think is going to play every day. Drury shouldn't really be playing every day either, but he has been, and with that in mind, he has to be better.

This season, Drury is slashing .226/.264/.460 with seven home runs and 17 RBI. He's striking out a whopping 31.1% of the time, well up from his career mark of 22.6%, while he's walking just 4.1% of the time. Drury has never walked much, but the strikeouts have been uncharacteristically bad.

I didn't expect the Angels infielder to repeat what ended up being a Silver Slugger season in 2022, but I did expect more than a 93 OPS+. I expected more than a .264 OBP. If he's going to play every day, he has to hit more.

Drury has been hitting mostly sixth this season with Rendon healthy. I don't know if Thaiss will jump him in the order or not, but there's a very good chance Drury will be hitting fifth, right behind the four-best hitters on the team.

I'd shy away from having the Angels bat two right-handed power bats who are much better against left-handed pitching right behind each other, but that's my guess as to what will happen most of the time. If that's the case, Drury has to be closer to his 2022 version than what the Angels have gotten this season.

We know he has it in him. We saw the series against Oakland. I know the Angels won't be facing that caliber of pitching really ever until they see the A's again, but it's not like Drury is incapable of getting hot.

We know what Gio Urshela is. He's a terrific defender at the hot corner who can hit a ton of singles and put the ball in play. Luis Rengifo is a guy who this season has proven to be undependable, and likely won't see the field much against right-handed pitching even with Rendon out, especially when Jared Walsh returns. Drury on the other hand, is a wild card. We've seen him hot, and we've seen him cold. He's ahead of Rengifo on the depth chart and will play most of the time. He has to step up.