Angels' Anthony Rendon joins select group of MLB hitters with home run from opposite side of plate

Table of Content

• NFL world reacts to Jags’ crazy comeback win over Cowboys
• Rangers Interested in Mets Free Agent
• Reds’ Top 5 third basemen: Sheldon's take
• Angels' Anthony Rendon joins select group of MLB hitters with home run from opposite side of plate
• Rangers SS Corey Seager Homer Sets MLB Record
• Minnesota Twins' 2023 Projected Starting Lineup After Signing Joey Gallo
• Starting Pitching No Longer ‘Top Priority’ For Rangers

While hitting a home run "hands-free" is a special event, catching a home run ball in a game can be just as special. For a few fans catching two home runs in a single game is the stuff of legends. Aaron Boone ( ) played all 162 games in 2002, and he hit 26 home runs with 87 RBIs. Billy Werber ( ) was a key force in back-to-back NL pennant-winning seasons and the 1940 World Series championship.

Sabo was the 1988 NL Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star for the Reds. His finest year was helping Cincinnati win the '90 World Series, when he led the club with 25 home runs and 91 runs while driving in 71. He batted .563 with two homers in the ’90 World Series, a four-game sweep of the heavily favored A's. We’re not saying that Tatis Jr.’s swinging through a take sign in a 10-3 game was wrong. We defended it at the time, even when his own manager tucked his tail between his legs and apologized.

NFL world reacts to Jags’ crazy comeback win over Cowboys

Seven players accomplished it four times and 12 players did it three times. These rankings are for fun and debate purposes only … if you don’t agree with the order, participate in the Twitter poll to vote for your favorite at this position. Choi, who came to the majors as a left-handed hitter, took a few other swings as a switch-hitter in 2020, but gave it up during the season and went back to being strictly a left-handed batter. James Anthony Abbott is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the California Angels, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers, from 1989 to 1999.

All three of his hits had an exit velocity of over 110-mph. Oneil Cruz — named after five-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion Paul O'Neill — has dazzled in his rookie season. He struggled through it, posting a 2–18 record with a 7.48 ERA.

Rangers Interested in Mets Free Agent

He continued his comeback the following year with the Milwaukee Brewers, but pitched ineffectively. This was the first time he had played for a National League team, forcing him to bat for the first time in his career. He recorded two hits in 21 at bats during his Brewers stint. Both of his hits scored runs, and both hits came off of Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lieber, albeit in different games. Rose is one of the greatest to play for the Reds -- and play the game in general. He’s the franchise’s all-time leader in games , plate appearances , runs , hits , singles , doubles and walks .

In 2015, Frazier starred for a struggling Reds club and became one of four third basemen in franchise history to slug at least 30 homers in a season. His signature moment came during the '15 All-Star Game festivities at Great American Ball Park, where he won the Home Run Derby on his last swing during the first use of a new timed format. It came on a 54-mph matzo ball and counted for nothing, but the southpaw slug landed smack dab in the MLB history book all the same. How many career right-handed hitters have hit a home run in their first-ever left-handed at bat?

Reds’ Top 5 third basemen: Sheldon's take

In a blowout, eventual no-hit victory against the Rays, Rendon stepped up to the plate to bat left-handed in the bottom of the eighth inning. Ordinarily, this would be a certain automatic out, but the pitcher he was facing was no pitcher at all. Phillips was making his second pitching appearance of the season, and threw only sliders that averaged 53.2 miles per hour, according to Baseball Savant. Batting was not an issue for Abbott for the majority of his career, since the American League uses the designated hitter, and he played only two seasons in the interleague play era. But he tripled in a spring training game in 1991 off Rick Reuschel, and when he joined the National League's Milwaukee Brewers in 1999, he had two hits in 21 at-bats, both off Jon Lieber.

With the Angels holding a big lead, the Tampa Bay Rays did something they’ve done on multiple occasions in lopsided games and sent position player Brett Phillips out to pitch in the eighth inning. Going against a position player must have brought out Rendon’s adventurous side. Rendon — normally a right-handed hitter, decided to take the at-bat left-handed. Abbott returned to the White Sox in 1998, starting five games and winning all five.

John O'Neil set an Organized Baseball record with a streak of 4635 from June 12, 1942, to the end of his career. His streak included 4541 at bats in the minors plus 94 for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1946. And finally, there is Don Sutton, the hard-luck hurler for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Frazier was up to bat in the fourth inning when he stepped into the batter's box against baseball's ageless wonder Jaime Moyer, who at 49, is the oldest pitcher in MLB history to win a game. Suárez is still building his resume, so he could potentially move up the list. He slugged 49 home runs -- second most in a season for the Reds and second most in MLB by a third baseman. Suárez and Hall of Famer Tony Perez are the only third basemen in club history with at least 25 homers in three seasons and the only two with at least 30 homers in two seasons.

Angels' Anthony Rendon joins select group of MLB hitters with home run from opposite side of plate

All of Anthony Rendon's previous 3,406 plate appearances since reaching the MLB level have come as a right-handed hitter. In 1994, Abbott's Yankees led the AL East, but the season halted, and the playoffs were canceled, due to a players strike on August 12. A free agent after the 1994 season, Abbott signed with the Chicago White Sox in April 1995. On July 27, 1995, the White Sox traded him and Tim Fortugno to the Angels for McKay Christensen, Andrew Lorraine, Bill Simas, and John Snyder. The Angels held an 11-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in August, but lost the AL West division title in a one-game playoff to the Mariners.

Baseball Reference lists Trosky as hitting a home run right-handed facing a left-handed pitcher in 1935. However, according to a report from The Gazette, Trosky hit right-handed with his hands crossed before becoming a left-handed hitter. The California Angels selected Abbott in the first round, with the eighth overall selection, of the 1988 Major League Baseball draft. In 1989, he joined the Angels' starting rotation as a rookie without playing a single minor league game.

But the hypocrisy of baseball's "unwritten rules," and the incosistency with which they're applied, is mind-numbing. Playing the game hard to the best of your abilities or flipping your proverbial hat backwards, stepping to the other side of the plate, and treating your opponent like a chew toy? To be clear we don't have a problem with either, but the answer to that question is not a stumper. He was picked up by the Ypsilanti, Michigan, American Legion team and went on to win the championship. He graduated from Flint Central High School in Michigan where he was a stand-out pitcher and quarterback. He played for the Grossi Baseball Club during the summer in the Connie Mack leagues of Michigan.

We’re willing to bet that number is one and that one is Anthony Rendon. No matter what the scoreboard said at the time, that means something. The angels were most definitely in the outfield in Anaheim on Tuesday night. 22-year-old rookie Reid Detmers threw the season’s first solo no-hitter as the Fightin' Halos cruised to a 12-0 victory over the Rays. The first to do it, according to Stathead, was Hal Trosky.