Angels tab veteran utility player to replace injured Anthony Rendon on roster

Eric Cole

Los Angeles Angels v Los Angeles Dodgers / Harry How/GettyImages

Los Angeles Angels fans were treated to a familiar tale over the weekend: Anthony Rendon is hurt once again. Rendon made it through 19 games this season, which is about 40% of what he has averaged per year over the previous four. Rendon was placed on the IL with what has been termed a hamstring strain, so there is some hope that this stint won't be too lengthy.

That said, this is Rendon we are talking about here.

The Angels aren't exactly overflowing with infield depth at the moment to cover Rendon's absence, but they were able to recall Ehire Adrianza to fill his roster spot once they placed him on the injured list.

LA Angels News: Angels recall Ehire Adrianza with Anthony Rendon injured

Adrianza very nearly made the Angels' Opening Day roster right out of camp. Normally, Michael Stefanic would have been the easy choice as the Angels' bench infielder, but he hurt his quad and opened the door for others to swoop in a grab his spot. Miguel Sano ultimately seized the opportunity this spring thanks to his power potential, but LA did luckily stash Adrianza away in the minors for a rainy day.

Before joining the Angels, Adrianza had a pretty successful stint as a utility bench piece with the Atlanta Braves, with whom he won a World Series ring. Unfortunately, he has dealt with injuries the last couple of years and came into spring training just trying to hang on in the big leagues. Now, he will basically back up the entire Angels infield, which has struggled mightily on both sides of the ball in 2024, not even accounting for Rendon's issues.

In an ideal world, Adrianza won't play all that much and guys like Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel finally get going this year. However, LA may have to hope that Adrianza can catch lightning in a bottle again like he did for a stretch with Atlanta if guys continue to falter.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.