Angels never announced Anthony Rendon had a tibia fracture

Anthony Rendon announced Friday that he has a broken tibia.

In his first extensive comments to reporters in months, Rendon said he sought a second opinion on his left shin bruise because he was experiencing pain. He was informed of the fracture during the Angels’ series against the Astros in Houston (August 11-13).

“I was still in pain,” Rendon said. “I contacted more and more doctors. I continued to ask questions. No one had an answer as to why I was still in pain. I finally have more pictures of what it was.”

When asked how long the Angels had known about Rendon’s tibia fracture, manager Phil Nevin said there were similarities between a deep bone bruise and a tibia fracture.

“I’m not referring to the medical side,” Nevin introduced, adding: “We talked about it when he [got hurt], how bad the bone bruise was that it even resembled a fracture. Bruised bone, broken bone, either way, he can’t play at the moment. We’re trying to get him back to where he is.”

There are similarities between the two injury descriptions, said Dr. Alan Beyer, orthopedic surgeon and executive medical director of the Hoag Orthopedic Institute.

Beyer is not Rendon’s doctor and spoke to the Times as an expert on the injury.

“Either a stress fracture of the tibia or a deep tibial bruise, which will look the same on a bone scan or an MRI scan,” Beyer said. “It’s not like he suffered a traumatic fracture to his tibia, like he was hit by a truck. So it’s really semantics.”