Smiley N. Pool/AP - In this May 28, 2010 file photo, Rice University's Anthony Rendon smiles as he steps up to bat during the fifth inning against Marshall in the Conference USA Championship baseball tournament at Cougar Field in Houston.
The first time he watched Anthony Rendon swing a baseball bat, Wayne Graham knew instantly what he recognized. Those wrists, that angle of the bat — he had seen the same things in the 1960s, back when he played in the major leagues, decades before he became the head coach at Rice University.
As Rendon hacked away, Graham gathered his assistant coaches and told them to watch close.
“You want to see Hank Aaron’s wrists?” Graham told them. “There they are. Don’t mess with him.”
Over the next three years, Graham grew familiar with the other qualities that convinced the Washington Nationals to draft Rendon with the sixth overall pick in June’s draft: his innate defensive ability, his effortless swing, his unflagging work ethic, his team-first attitude and his joy for the game.
Most of all, Graham coached a player born with the right kind of athleticism for baseball and the mental approach to draw it out of himself. Rendon is 5 feet 11 and 190 pounds, hardly imposing. He runs with average speed. If you judged this year’s draft prospects on their physical attributes alone — how high they jump, how much weight they lift — Rendon would fall to the middle of the pack, maybe.
Rendon’s gifts — hand-eye coordination, agility, balance — are more subtle.
“In terms of hand-eye coordination, in terms of reflexes, he operates on the same level of a [Dustin] Pedroia or a [Brooks] Robinson,” said Graham, who played in the minor leagues for 10 years and the majors for two. “I’ve seen a lot of players in my time. He does. He’s got incredible hand-eye coordination, reflexes.”
Small stature, big heart
During his sophomore year of high school, Rendon said, he stood 5-4 and 103 pounds. He played shortstop and second base, always one of the best players on his youth teams, and he never let his size deter him from believing professional baseball was his future.
“It’s always been in my heart,” Rendon said during a conference call the day after he was drafted this June. “I was just hoping maybe one day I’ll wake up and I’ll be six feet tall.”
He almost made it: He’s now 5-11. Before his junior year, Rendon grew six inches and transferred to Lamar High in Houston.
Rendon led the area in home runs for two seasons and left his teammates and coaches with a handful of stories to tell.
Here’s one: Lamar was trouncing an opponent late in a game, and Rendon asked Coach Mike McGilvray if he could try batting left-handed. McGilvray had never seen him do that, not even in batting practice, but he gave him permission. In the first left-handed at-bat of his life, Rendon drilled a double off the right field fence, 375 feet away from the plate.
“The players, coaches, our mouths just dropped,” McGilvray said. “I couldn’t believe it. We were just shocked. We were stunned. I don’t even think the kids knew he could turn around and hit left-handed.”
At Rice, Rendon kept producing stories. During his sophomore season, he hit three home runs in one game at Disch-Falk Field, the home park of the University of Texas for the past 36 years. No one had ever done that before.
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