MLB Players Power Rankings (3): Anthony Rendon, Washington Nationals
August Stats: 0.712 SLG | 0.467 wOBA | 189 wRC+ | 1.9 fWAR
Anthony Rendon is quietly having one of the best seasons of any player in the National League. If not for the tremendous start Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich, we’d most certainly be talking about Rendon as a more serious NL MVP contender this season.
In fact, in the second half of the season, not only has Rendon been better than Yelich and Bellinger, he’s been better than Mike Trout and all of MLB too. According to FanGraphs, Anthony Rendon has the highest fWAR (3.1) in MLB. Yelich and Bellinger have a 1.8 and 1.6 fWAR respectively.
Where Rendon trails his the afore mention competition is in his power hitting. Both Yelich and Bellinger each have 40+ home runs whereas Rendon only has 31.
During the month of August, Rendon really exhibited why he’s such an elite player. The Washington Nationals hold a comfortable 4.5 game lead for the Wild Card and trail the Atlanta Braves by just 5.0 games in the NL East.
Sure, you can’t credit Rendon will all the success of the Nats, but it’s undeniable that he’s played a major part in the team’s success over the second half of the season.