Anthony Rendon Poised to Become Breakout Star of 2014 MLB Postseason

About a year ago, everyone was buzzing about Michael Wacha.

Beginning with his near no-hitter in his last start of September, the St. Louis Cardinals' rookie right-hander put together a five-start stretch of dominance that extended well into late October over which he allowed only three runs on all of 12 hits in 35.2 innings.

All that from a 22-year-old in the middle of a pennant race and then the playoffs. Wacha undoubtedly was the overnight sensation who became the breakout star of the postseason.

Well, a young former first-round draft pick on the Washington Nationals just might become the player everyone is fawning over a few weeks from now—and it's not Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg.

That's right: Anthony Rendon is ready to be the 2014 version of Michael Wacha.

Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images

Not that Harper and Strasburg aren't plenty great in their own right. But this October, the baseball-watching world will be formally introduced to Rendon.

Up to this point, you might have read about or seen a few highlights of Rendon here and there over the course of the season, but chances are you don't realize just how good he's been—unless you're a Nationals fan.

After all, Washington's roster is saturated with other big names and top talents who snag most of the attention. Besides Harper and Strasburg, there's also Ian Desmond, Jayson Werth, Ryan Zimmerman and Jordan Zimmermann.

Rendon, sans the hype and headline-grabbing personality, gets overshadowed despite being arguably the best player on arguably the best team in baseball—all in just his first full season in the majors at the tender age of 24.

"He's just mature beyond his years," first baseman Adam LaRoche told Tom Schad of the Washington Times. "He doesn't need any of the spotlight. He doesn't want any of the spotlight. He wants to go out there, do his job and help us win."

In fact, Rendon is so far removed from the spotlight that he wasn't an All-Star this year.

No, he had to settle for the almost ignominious honor of being included in the final vote—which, of course, he didn't win. He finished in fourth place out of five, barely ahead of, um, Casey McGehee.

All told, Rendon, who comes with plenty of pedigree as the No. 6 overall pick in 2011 out of Rice, posted the following numbers on the year:

PA	BA/OBP/SLG	R	XBH (HR)	RBI	SB
683	.287/.351/.473	111	66 (21)	83	17

That helped him place in the top 10 in the all-encompassing wins above replacement (WAR) metric, per FanGraphs:

RANK	PLAYER	TEAM	POSITION	fWAR
1	Mike Trout	Angels	OF	7.8
2	Corey Kluber	Indians	RHP	7.3
3	Clayton Kershaw	Dodgers	LHP	7.2
4	Andrew McCutchen	Pirates	OF	6.8
5	Michael Brantley	Indians	OF	6.6
6	Anthony Rendon	Nationals	2B/3B	6.6
7	Alex Gordon	Royals	OF	6.6
8	Josh Donaldson	Athletics	3B	6.4
9	Jose Bautista	Blue Jays	OF	6.3
10	Jonathan Lucroy	Brewers	C	6.3

Pretty darn impressive, no? And probably much better than you thought when you started reading this.

Rendon's numbers are very strong across the board, which actually undercuts his reputation in a weird way: It's tough to fit him into a neat little box or drop a quick label on him (i.e. "power hitter," "speedster" or "elite glove man"), like we so often do with players.

Here's how Paul Swydan of FanGraphs put it in his mid-September look at some down-ballot NL MVP candidates: "[Rendon's] all-around game is not generally the kind of game that gets you noticed by MVP voters. Especially when you play on a team with more established stars/headliners like Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg."

The only traditional category in which Rendon truly stands out is runs scored, and that might be the most underrated statistic in baseball.

Simply put, the objective of the game is to—that's right—score runs and prevent the other team from doing so.

Well, do you know how many players scored more runs than Rendon in 2014? Try two: AL MVP-to-be Mike Trout with 115, and Brian Dozier, another unheralded infielder who plays for the Minnesota Twins, with 112.

One of the best baserunners in the sport, Rendon topped the Senior Circuit with 111 runs. And he works hard on that aspect.

"He has a lot of ways to get on base," manager Matt Williams said of his No. 2 hitter. "He's got a good knowledge of the strike zone. He hits a lot of doubles. He can steal second base, he's got that ability. So he can put himself in scoring position a lot."

Another overlooked element of playing baseball is, you know, actually playing baseball. As in, staying healthy. Rendon, who had more than his share of injuries in college and as a prospect, finally did that with the best of 'em this season.

He played 153 games and notched 1,364.0 innings overall. Only 40 players, or roughly 1.3 per team, made it into more games.

Rendon also did that while playing multiple positions, starting out as the second baseman before switching to his natural third base when Zimmerman went down with a hamstring injury. That versatility made him especially valuable to a Nationals team that was still trying to get healthy and find itself in the first half of the season.

James Wagner of the Washington Post assessed his performance:

"

Rendon has been a stellar defender. The flux of infielders because of injuries, performance and need—Ryan Zimmerman, Asdrubal Cabrera and Danny Espinosa—has been mitigated by Rendon’s versatility. His ability to move from second and third base seamlessly and still play strong defense at both spots has saved the Nationals from more issues.

"

Oh, and in case you're wondering: Yes, Rendon was an above-average defender by the numbers at both spots this year.

Heck, Rendon even stole 17 bases while being caught just three times. He really can do everything—and well.

Is it any coincidence, then, that the Nationals—a team that was overwhelmingly disappointing when many expected it to be among the very best last year—didn't ascend to that status until Rendon turned into the all-around productive player he's been this season?

Sure, Rendon isn't the only reason this team is as good as any that's still playing, but he is a big one.

As they head into their National League Division Series matchup against the San Francisco Giants on Friday afternoon, the Nationals are both talented and healthy, which makes them a dangerous club that seems poised for a deep run in October.

That should give Rendon plenty of opportunities to impress on the national stage and show folks outside of D.C. what he can do—check that, what he has been doing.

Rendon's breakout already has happened. Now it's time for everyone to realize it.

Statistics are accurate through Oct. 2 and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter @JayCat11.