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Anthony Rendon has a World Series title, two Silver Slugger Awards and a $245 million MLB contract. However, baseball has "never been a top priority" for the Los Angeles Angels third baseman.
Speaking at Angels camp in Tempe, Ariz., on Monday, Rendon shared where the game ranks among the most important things in his life as he looks to finally embark on a full, healthy season in L.A.
"This is a job. I do this to make a living," he said. "My faith and my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’ll move on."
Rendon is entering his 12th MLB season and isn't looking to retire just yet. However, he went with a literal answer when a reported asked if he "wanted to be here."
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"I don’t want to talk to you guys at 7 in the morning, or whatever time it is," he said.
Rendon showed more frustration when he was asked a follow-up about wanting to be playing baseball.
“I have answered your question,” he said. “So why do keep picking at it?”
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Rendon has played just 200 games since signing a seven-year, $245 million deal with the Angels in December 2019. He made that move after spending his first seven seasons with the Nationals, ending his Washington tenure with a World Series title.
While a COVID-shortened 2020 season and various injuries have kept the 33-year-old off the field since he arrived in L.A., he maintains that he's kept the same perspective since he first entered the pros more than a decade ago.
"My enthusiasm has been the same since I got drafted, to be honest," said. "I was actually deleting old emails because my storage is getting to the maximum. And so I've been going back deleting old emails. I emailed myself a pros and cons of why I wanted to stay in the game. This was in 2014. And so my thought process of the game has not changed since then."
As for fan perception, Rendon isn't concerned.
"If they want to make me out to be a certain type of person because I want to see my family more, I mean, that's fine," he said. "They don’t know me. They just know the surface level. Everyone's gonna have their opinion, you can't make everybody happy."
