Angels' Anthony Rendon Replacement Could Face Elongated Absence With Injury

Apr 1, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Los Angeles Angels third baseman Yoan Moncada (5) leaps over St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker (18) as he steals third base during the second inning at Busch Stadium. | Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Angels have been on a tear to start the 2025 season, but it hasn't been without some of the same issues that plagued last year's 99-loss campaign.

The Halos have been doing everything they can to get out of the shadow of last season's worst winning percentage in franchise history, but a reinforcement to an oft-injured Anthony Rendon is proving to have some early injury concerns of his own.

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In Rendon's first season with the Halos after inking a seven-year, $245 million deal, he played 52 of the COVID-19-impacted 60-game season with a team-leading WAR of 2.2. Since then, the 34-year-old has yet to play over 58 games in a full season and is likely out for the entirety of 2025 due to undergoing surgery on his hip.

His replacement at third base this offseason, Yoan Moncada, started to catch the injury bug this spring and has since had a rough start to the regular season.

A bone bruise in his right thumb had an unknown cause during Cactus League play, and has continued to nag at the 29-year-old infielder. Moncada was able to play the first seven games of the season, but then took four days off.

He then went up to the plate once more in his return, landed on the injured list, and has yet to be back on the diamond.

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The Orange County Register's Jeff Fletcher reported that Moncada has yet to swing a bat since the IL stint began. Manager Ron Washington spoke on the caution the team is showing with the bruise.

“That bone bruise is nothing to play with,” Washington said. “We tried everything we could, and it didn’t work. So next thing to do is just to make certain that he doesn’t aggravate it for as long as we possibly can.”

In his absense, Luis Rengifo has been taking over the third base starts while Kyren Paris has been taking Rengifo's spot at second with Tim Anderson and Kevin Newman also assisting the infield.

In the games that Moncada has played, he had four RBIs in 21 at-bats with an OPS of .656.

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