Rendon to undergo left hip surgery in latest setback

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Third baseman Anthony Rendon will undergo left hip surgery and will be out for a significant amount of time, Angels general manager Perry Minasian said on Wednesday.

It’s the latest setback for Rendon, who has been plagued by injuries for much of his time with the Angels since signing a seven-year, $245 million deal after the 2019 campaign. He also underwent season-ending right hip surgery in July 2022, but now will need the procedure done on his other hip.

“He had a setback late in the offseason with his rehab,” Minasian said. “He's going to have hip surgery here in the very near future. I don't put time frames on it, but it's going to be a while until he's back.”

After appearing in 52 of 60 games and producing a .915 OPS for the Halos during the shortened 2020 season, Rendon has played a combined 205 games with a .666 OPS over the past four seasons. In 2024, he made three trips to the injured list and played just 57 games without hitting a home run, missing time with a left hamstring strain, low back inflammation and a left oblique strain. Rendon then suffered a setback during his offseason rehab work and wasn't able to avoid surgery, according to Minasian.

He’s still under contract for $38.5 million each year in ’25 and ’26. He was expected to move into more of a bench role this year after struggling to stay healthy in recent seasons, but he will now open the season on the 60-day injured list.

“He had some difficulty with his rehab over the last couple weeks, and we had a couple different doctors take a look at it,” Minasian said. “It’s a long-term rehab. We’ll see how it goes.”

With shortstop Zach Neto also a possibility to miss the start of the 2025 season after undergoing right shoulder surgery in early November, the Angels have focused on bolstering their infield depth this offseason, reaching one-year deals with Yoán Moncada (per a source) and Kevin Newman and inking Tim Anderson and J.D. Davis to Minor League contracts.

Moncada appears set to assume the starting job at the hot corner, though he has dealt with some injury problems of his own, appearing in just 208 games since the beginning of 2022. Davis will compete for a spot this spring, while Luis Rengifo can also handle third base. It could open a spot for top prospect Christian Moore to claim the starting second-base job with Newman and Rengifo serving in utility roles.

Angels manager Ron Washington said it was a tough to hear the news about Rendon but that he still hasn’t talked to third baseman yet about his looming surgery. He said he called Rendon after he heard the news but was still waiting on the veteran to get back to him.

“It was a blow, because I'm a believer in Rendon,” Washington said. “We're going to look at all our options, and we're going to continue to move forward. I mean, that's all you can do.”