By Terry Bernal Daily Journal
The 24-year-old infield prospect hasn’t dawned stripes since 2009 when he wrapped up his prolific baseball career at Serra. Thursday, however, the Washington Nationals traded their No. 12 organizational prospect, according to Baseball America, to the New York Yankees for right-hander David Carpenter.
“I feel good about it,” Renda said. “It’s a good opportunity. It’s a good organization.”
Renda had been playing for Nationals Double-A affiliate Harrisburg, batting .263 while hitting his first home run since 2013. He departs the Senators in the midst of quite the tear, having hit safely in his last six games, and tabbing multi-hit games in five of his last nine games. He is batting .393 (11 for 28) for June.
“It’s been pretty good,” Renda said of the current season. “There’s been some ups and downs, but I’m swinging the bat well now. I feel good. It’s just a new chapter in my career. I get to go over to the Yankees and show them what I’ve got.”
A second-round draft pick by the Nationals in 2012 out of Cal, Renda has played with several ex-teammates during his time in the minors. In 2013 at Low-A Hagerstown, he teamed with former Cal right-hander Dixon Anderson. In spring training this season, he was in camp with his former Serra teammate Matt Page.
In being dealt to the Yankees organization, Renda has been assigned to Double-A Trenton, where he will rejoin another player who helped the Cinderella Cal team to Omaha in 2011, outfielder Danny Oh.
Oh was a 27th round pick by the Yankees in 2012. Entering into this season, Oh was batting .254 through three minor league seasons. This year, however, he posted a remarkable month-and-a-half at High-A Tampa, hitting .333, for which he was recently named to the Florida State League All-Star team. He has since been promoted to Double-A Trenton.
Renda said he is not surprised Oh has proved a valuable player in professional baseball.
“Danny is a good player,” Renda said. “He’s always been a good player. Hopefully we get to be teammates.”
Renda will join a wealth of Yankees prospects in Trenton. Former first-round draft pick Aaron Judge was ranked the No. 52 prospect in baseball prior to this season, according to Baseball America. The 6-7 right-handed slugger is currently tied for third in the Eastern League with eight home runs. Another former first-round draft pick, Thunder third baseman Eric Jagielo, currently ranks second in the league with nine homers.
Carpenter is a major league journeyman, having broken into the big leagues with the Astros in 2011. Following two quite successful seasons out of the Atlanta Braves bullpen in 2013 and ’14, he was traded to the Yankees earlier this season along with left-hander Chasen Shreve in exchange for left-handed prospect Manny Banuelos.
Carpenter was 0-1 with a 4.82 ERA through 22 games out of the Yankees’ bullpen before being designated for assignment last Wednesday.
The Trenton Thunder are currently in second place in the Eastern League’s Eastern Division. They beat the Erie Seawolves 6-0 Thursday, with four Thunder pitchers — including former Chicago White Sox closer Sergio Santos, who signed a minor league deal with the Yankees Wednesday — combining on a one-hit shutout. The victory moves them to with a half game of the first-place New Britain Rock Cats.
