Most players I’ve been around love their jobs. As a fan, one reason Opening Day is so fun to watch is because we get to see people show up to work and truly enjoy it.
But even for a baseball player on Opening Day, sometimes a job is just a job. Or sometimes you wake up in a mood that a full ballpark and a pregame ceremony can’t pull you out of. See below for my incomplete assessment of who was and who wasn’t here for it yesterday.
Here for it: Anthony Rendon
Personally, I’m here for Rendon’s openness about where baseball stands amongst other, more important priorities in his life. His February comments were refreshing. Baseball is a job. His kids are more important. It’s too bad that such a stance is controversial.
So did Rendon show up ready for the first day of work yesterday?
Rendon’s peak defensive run was probably the 2016-2017 range. In that span, he made both the flashy plays and the routine plays. He started 193 games in those two seasons and booted 3 ground balls. This is not that Anthony Rendon:
Throwing this play in here might be too harsh. There isn’t a good camera shot of Rendon’s setup before the pitch. Was this a physical error and not a mental one? Was Rendon ready and just slow to react? This should be a 99 times of 100 play for someone like him, so he’s either not mentally there or he’s losing a step (or his groin is still bothering him). Whatever conclusion you draw, your stance on Rendon’s comments probably color your opinion.
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When you tell your boss that you have other priorities more important than your job, sometimes they say they support you but they don’t really mean it. Ron Washington publicly supported Rendon back in February.
Washington also put Rendon in the leadoff spot on Opening Day. That sure seems like a “light a fire” move to me. Rendon took his typical ultra-selective approach into that spot, seeing 20 pitches and swinging at 5 of them.
It would be easy to point to Rendon’s “lazy-looking” hitting setup and his reaction to pitches like this one…
and to say that he doesn’t want to be here. But this has always been Anthony Rendon. His teammates have always wondered if he’s lazy or just talented enough to make the work look easier than it actually is. It wouldn’t be fair to accuse him of not enjoying his job just because he doesn’t look like he’s enjoying his job.
Rendon showed up, didn’t he? With $100-something million in the bank, he sure didn’t have to. As Wash put it:
He wasn’t saying he doesn’t care about baseball. He’s here. He’s fired up. He’s ready to go.
And I’m here for this:
Here for it: Jorge Mateo, Victor Scott, Javier Báez, Jesús Sanchez, Jake Fraley, Spencer Steer, Elly De La Cruz, Ha-Seong Kim, Tyler Wade, Tyler O’Neill, Jarren Duran, Trevor Story, José Siri…Josh Naylor
All of these players (except Naylor) stole a bag yesterday. All of them (including Naylor) were fired up and ready to run.
That’s 13 stolen bases in 13 games. It’s just one day. But there might be some tone-setting for the rest of the season going on here too. 2023 left something on the table for most clubs in the stolen base department - the league’s record-high stolen base success mark post-rule change says so:
The break-even point for stolen bases is the expected rate of success above which a stolen base attempt is a good idea. The exact break-even rate is debatable, but it’s a lot lower than 80%. In 2024, that means teams should try to run more. Running a lot more often - even though it means getting caught a little more often - should lead to more runs scored.
But all that extra running may not go smoothly, especially in these early days. Running a lot more means running players without a lot of experience, and in situations that never would have been considered pre-2023.
An example: with a 6-0 lead over the Oakland A’s, your first baseman/250 lb. middle linebacker can now sell out for an extra bag. You can’t fault Josh Naylor’s enthusiasm. He’s here for work and ready to roll.
This is 2024.
Not here for it: Miles Mikolas
“Checkbook baseball”: this was the jab Mikolas threw at the Dodgers during Spring Training. Fair enough. An Opening Day start against these Dodgers is either a curse or an opportunity, depending on how you look at it. It would be a shame to see the glass half empty on a day where hope should spring eternal, though.
It didn’t go well for Mikolas: 4.1 IP, 5 ER, 5 K, 2 BB.
His body language didn’t really signal that he was here for it. There were a few hands-on-knees reactions:
The first image is a Mookie Betts bomb and the second is a Freeman bleeder base hit.
Opening Day is also not the time to show up an umpire. There are 161 more games for that. Willson Contreras really lets Mikolas down here in how he receives this pitch:
But that reaction doesn’t suggest Mikolas sees this Opening Day as a glass half full opportunity.
When Mikolas is at his best, he’s using 5 pitches and looks like he’s having fun mixing it up. Dave Roberts said pre-game that the Dodgers were expecting a “lot of curveballs” from him. Instead, Mikolas stuck primarily with an unenthusiastic fastball/slider mix. Sometimes you’re just trying to get through the work day.
Not here for it: Kris Bryant
MLB ran a promo yesterday that included a series of one-liners from players about what Opening Day means to them. Kris Bryant spoke instead to us: “Opening Day is a gift for the fans.”
It’s hard to blame him for not sharing any personal excitement. He didn’t have much time to enjoy the day:
Bryant got hit in the knee in the top of the 3rd. His team fell behind 16-1 in the bottom of the 3rd. He was out of the game by the 6th.
Here for it: Adrián Beltré
What a first pitch!
Have a great weekend!