Angels lose their hottest hitter for the remainder of the season as injuries continue to mount

The Los Angeles Angels have watched their season crumble away in spectacular fashion. The team that was once five games over .500 at the trade deadline and had traded a bunch of their prospects in an attempt to win now is currently 12 games under .500 and completely out of postseason contention.

There have been very few positives from watching the Angels since the calendar turned to August but one of them has been the excellent play of Luis Rengifo. The Angels utility man had taken an everyday role and ran with it, but will now be the latest Angel to watch his season end prematurely.

Rengifo was the latest Angel placed on the Injured List as he suffered a left biceps tendon rupture while prepping for an at-bat in the on-deck circle. This is just the latest of many injuries for the Angels who now have to find a way to try and win some games without their hottest hitter.

Luis Rengifo lands on IL in the latest gut punch to the LA Angels

Luis Rengifo's season has been one full of ups and downs. He began the season horribly, and by the end of June he was slashing .202/.292/.298 with four home runs and 21 RBI in the 70 games he appeared in. The Angels did happen to go 40-30 in those games, but Rengifo did very little to contribute to wins. Once the calendar flipped to July, this was a completely different player.

Since July 1, Rengifo had slashed .327/.388/.592 with 12 home runs and 30 RBI in 56 games. Rengifo was getting regular at-bats andn for over two months, he was among the best hitters in all of baseball. He has a 163 WRC+ since July 1 which is good for 14th in all of baseball. He ranks ahead of some superstars like Kyle Tucker, Bryce Harper, Pete Alonso, and Francisco Lindor. For a two-month plus stretch, that's extremely impressive.

Rengifo just kept on getting better as the season progressed. He was coming off a player of the week award and ended his season with a 14-game hitting streak. He had 25 hits in his last 56 at-bats with five home runs and 14 RBI in those 14 games. He had seen regular at-bats at multiple positions including shortstop and right field of late.

Rengifo was one of just a handful of Angels players who had stayed healthy for the entire season. He was the only Angels Opening Day position player to not either land on the IL, be sent down to the minors, or be DFA'd other than Shohei Ohtani who is currently injured. The Angels now have an unfathomable 15 players on the IL including seven different position players. Watching one of their few durable players go down is certainly frustrating.