SEATTLE — Anaheim Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon received a four-game suspension on Monday after an altercation with a fan after the team’s opening game in Oakland on Thursday.
Major League Baseball announced the suspension, and Rendon was fined an undisclosed amount, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Update 8:52 p.m. EDT April 3: Anthony Rendon elected to appeal his suspension and was penciled in the lineup for the Angels’ game against the Seattle Mariners, the Los Angeles Times reported. MLB then reduced his original five-game suspension to four games, according to the newspaper.
Original report: Rendon, 32, an 11-year major league veteran, was caught on video allegedly grabbing a fan’s shirt and engaging in a brief exchange of expletives as he walked toward the Angels’ clubhouse after the team’s 2-1 loss to the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum, The Press-Enterprise reported.
Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon has been suspended five games and fined an undisclosed amount, MLB announced. pic.twitter.com/gUQYL1iZn2
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) April 3, 2023
Rendon refused to comment about the situation on Saturday, according to The Orange County Register. Manager Phil Nevin and general manager Perry Minasian also declined comment.
Unless Rendon appeals the decision, the suspension will begin with the Angels’ game Monday night in Seattle, the Times reported.
Rendon struck out two times in three at-bats and went hitless on Thursday. He was heading toward the Angels’ clubhouse when he stopped and allegedly confronted a fan sitting near the railing, ESPN reported.
The video, which was posted to Twitter, shows Rendon asking the fan, “What did you say?” according to KTLA-TV.
Here’s another angle of the Anthony Rendon altercation with a fan pic.twitter.com/BpmmsyGFEp
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 1, 2023
The verbal confrontation lasted less than five minutes. MLB is looking into the incident, ESPN reported.
It was Rendon’s second five-game suspension in less than a year, according to The Press-Enterprise. In June 2022, he was suspended for his participation in a fight between the Angels and Mariners, the newspaper reported.
Rendon was on the injured list at the time recovering from wrist surgery, according to the Times.
