It's Wednesday, so let's dip into the mailbag. Reminder: you can submit questions to my weekly mailbag via Twitter (@aaronfitt) or by e-mailing collegeblog@baseballamerica.com. This week's question deals with a certain high-profile Rice Owl:

It sounds like Anthony Rendon is swinging the bat the way we expect but are there any lingering effects from his ankle injuries defensively? I saw him last year against USD and was as impressed by his fielding as his hitting.

Carlos
San Diego

Rendon, the reigning College Player of the Year, has been slowed in the early going not by his surgically repaired ankle, but by his right shoulder. He strained a muscle during a preseason stretching exercise, then played through the discomfort during the opening weekend against Stanford. The strain has affected his throwing, but not his hitting, so he has spent the last four games at DH. He has continued to produce offensively, hitting .387/.525/.613 with two homers through nine games.

"He can really hit—the bat's fine," a National League scout said. "He's a hard guy to get out."

Concerns about the health of Rendon's right ankle have been addressed. After tearing ligaments in the ankle in 2009, Rendon fractured it with Team USA last summer, but his rehabilitation went well, and the scout said he has been running fine, if maybe a tick below his speed before the injury.

But as Carlos points out, Rendon is as special defensively as he is with a bat in his hands, and the Owls miss his presence at third base. Owls coach Wayne Graham told the Houston Chronicle, "Obviously we want him out there, but I'm not going to mortgage the future to win now," and that is the right move. Scouts have seen enough of him to know how good of a defender he is, but they want to see him back at full strength, too.

"You'd like to see him in the field to know that he's completely healthy, to put your stamp on him," the scout said. "Last week he DHed the whole time, and it sounds like he'll continue to DH a bit longer. I just want to see him play some defense—that should pretty much solidify him at the top of the (draft) heap."