Angels: Writer Picks Halos' X-Factor for Success in 2023 Season

The Angels need a big year out of this guy.

Back in 2017 or 2018, it might have been pretty exciting for a ballplayer to show up on a list saying he was as important to his team as Christian Yelich or Chris Sale. In 2023, though, that's not an ideal scenario. But it's the situation Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon finds himself in.

Over at MLB.com, Thomas Harrigan wrote about 10 teams hoping to get back to the postseason this year and the "X-factor" players they'll need in order to make it happen. Rendon was that player for the Halos.

The Angels have two of the best players in baseball in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, and they beefed up their roster with the additions of Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury, Gio Urshela, Tyler Anderson and Carlos Estévez this offseason. However, the Halos will likely need Rendon’s help to end their playoff drought.

Entering the fourth season of his seven-year, $245 million deal with the club, Rendon has played just 157 games in an Angels uniform, hitting .252 with 20 homers, a .779 OPS and 3.2 bWAR. In his final three years with the Nationals, the third baseman averaged 143 games played, 28 homers, 106 RBIs and 6.1 bWAR per season while slashing .310/.397/.556.

Rendon was very good in the shortened 2020 season, his first year with the Angels. In the two years since then, though, he's played in just 105 games with a 97 OPS+. They'll need something much closer to the 2017-20 version of Rendon to show up this year if they're going to make good use of Ohtani's last guaranteed year in a Halos uniform.

Rendon is reportedly healthy, so hopefully a full spring will propel him back into his prime. He'll be 33 in June, so things aren't going to get easier from here on out. If he can't bounce back in 2023, you have to wonder if he ever will.