Daniel Murphy, Scherzer make All-Star case for Rendon

Four of the Nationals’ five All-Stars sat a table for a press conference Monday with a backdrop that included the hashtag “#VoteRendon.”

Max Scherzer, Ryan Zimmerman Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg all were announced Sunday as the Nationals’ contingent to the July 11 All-Star game in Miami. Notably missing from the list was third baseman Anthony Rendon — who is one of five players eligible in the National League to be voted in by fans for the team’s last roster spot.

Asked to make a case why Rendon deserved to be on the All-Star team, Murphy and Scherzer were the loudest for why their teammate should head to Miami with them.

“Do you go to FanGraphs at all?” Murphy said, referring to the analytical baseball website. “He’s really, really good. He’s an under-the-radar superstar.”

“He does everything,” Scherzer said. “He does defense, offense, steals bases. I know we have (Harper, Zimmerman and Murphy) on offense and that’s what we all think about. But what does Rendon has done for our ballclub and the runs he’s driven in has been really, really huge for our team.”

Fans have until Thursday at 4 p.m. to vote for Rendon to make the All-Star game.

And as Murphy and Scherzer alluded, Rendon is having quite a season — with a split of.297/.399/.554.

Rendon, who was MLB’s comeback player of the year last year, has built off a successful 2016. He has 16 home runs this year and 51 RBIs entering into Monday’s game against the New York Mets.

The 27-year-old dealt with a series of injuries all throughout the 2015 season, missing 82 games. Last year, Rendon found a rhythm after the All-Star break and batted .291 compared to .254 in the first half of the season.

Nationals manager Dusty Baker said last week he sees Rendon again having a better second half to the season than the first.

Baker said what’s most impressive about Rendon is his ability to foul-off pitches. It allows him to get ahead of the count and Rendon is batting .356 in 134 plate appearances when that happens. 

Baker said Rendon has a patience, a “coolness of mind” that leads to his success.

“You can’t tell when he’s ahead in the count and you can’t tell when he’s 0-2,” Baker said. “The fact that he can foul off good pitches, I think that’s really, really a lost art in fouling off good pitches. Ordinarily, pitchers can’t repeat that same pitch over and over and over again. He’ll either make a mistake or end up walking ya.

“I’ll never forget the time I saw Pete Rose foul off 15 in a row. I asked him when he got to first base, ’how come you’re fouling so much’ and he said because he didn’t like the guy.”

Rendon has some stiff competition among those in the fan vote: Chicago’s Kris Bryant, Colorado’s Mark Reynolds, Miami’s Justin Bour and Los Angeles’ Justin Turner. Bryant is the most notable among the bunch.

Rendon was also one of the finalists for the last spot in 2014 for the All-Star Game, but lost out in a vote to Anthony Rizzo.

“It’s really hard for me to swallow he’s not up here (celebrating an All-Star appearance) on the table right now,” Scherzer said. “He’s had that type of year.”