Anthony Rendon plays in the shadow of Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer. Last year, he played in the shadow of Daniel Murphy and for the first two months of 2017 he also played in the shadow of Ryan Zimmerman. He's also a player who does everything well, if lacking one defining tool like Giancarlo Stanton's power, Joey Votto's discipline or Nolan Arenado's glove.

All that is a way of saying he's underrated. The National League MVP race probably has nine serious candidates and will likely be decided by what happens in September, and Rendon should absolutely be part of that discussion.

I'm here to suggest that he's not the best choice for MVP, although that's not really his fault. That's not much of a bold statement, as it seems the mainstream discussion has centered on Harper (before he was injured), Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and now Stanton with his second-half surge. I've seen some sabermetric writers, however, advocate for Rendon as a strong candidate.

Entering Thursday's games, Rendon led all National League position players in FanGraphs WAR and was in shouting distance of the co-leaders in Baseball-Reference WAR. He's hitting over .300, is on pace for 100 RBIs, has almost as many walks as strikeouts and if not for Arenado would be a strong Gold Glove candidate. However ...

Here's a table of the leading MVP candidates with the following categories: FanGraphs WAR, Baseball-Reference WAR, Win Probability Added, High-leverage OPS and the total of runs scored plus RBIs (all numbers heading into Thursday):

Leading National League MVP Candidates Player FG WAR B-R WAR Win Probability High-lev OPS Runs + RBI Anthony Rendon 6.4 5.6 2.2 0.796 154 Giancarlo Stanton 6.0 6.3 4.8 0.97 213 Paul Goldschmidt 5.7 6.3 3.1 0.943 206 Joey Votto 5.7 6.3 4.2 1.11 180 Charlie Blackmon 5.7 5.0 4.1 1.327 204 Corey Seager 5.6 4.9 3.0 0.81 140 Bryce Harper 5.0 4.7 4.6 1.157 179 Nolan Arenado 4.5 5.7 3.5 1.126 193 Cody Bellinger 3.6 4.0 3.9 1.346 150

One number in particular stands out to me. Stanton has 59 more runs plus RBIs than Rendon. Goldschmidt has 52 more and Charlie Blackmon 50 more. (And, no, you don't subtract home runs when you do this. Almost every run scored has a run and RBI. If you subtract home runs, you're only giving half credit.)

Now I'll readily admit: Using runs and RBIs can be tricky and sometimes dumb, because they can be so team dependent. It's why people are fooled into thinking Albert Pujols is having a good season (it helps to hit after Mike Trout). The sabermetric folks will rip me for even bringing up RBIs.

The idea of WAR is to remove context -- lineups, ballparks -- to determine what a player has accomplished. A home run is a home run and a double is a double, no matter when it happens or how many runners are on base. For the most part, it works. But context shouldn't be completely ignored, especially in an MVP debate as close as this one.

In Rendon's case, the context is this: He has spent most of his season batting sixth. Of the 121 games he has started, 73 have come in the sixth hole. He has moved up a few times, especially after Harper went down, but even on Thursday he was batting sixth with Trea Turner hitting first, Jayson Werth hitting second and Adam Lind hitting fifth.

Of course, it makes zero sense to hit Werth second and the superior Rendon sixth (why give a potential extra plate appearance to the inferior hitter?), but, hey, that's what Dusty Baker has done all season and he obviously doesn't want to change things around. Baker has even kept Zimmerman in the cleanup spot all season.

That was fine when he hit .420 with 11 home runs in April, but in the past two months he has hit .233/.317/.448 while Rendon has raked. Rendon was better than Zimmerman last season, he has been better every month this year except April, but Baker still hasn't changed things. I get that when Harper is healthy Baker likes to go L-R-L-R with Harper-Zimmerman-Murphy-Rendon, but you could still do that by moving Rendon up to the No. 2 slot or flipping Rendon and Zimmerman.

Anyway, because of his lineup position, Rendon hasn't scored as many runs as some of the other MVP contenders. Blackmon, with the advantage of Coors Field and Arenado coming up after him, is having a historic season in that category. WAR doesn't factor in lineup position.

Consider it this way: A base hit in front of Harper is worth more than a base hit in front of Matt Wieters, because you’re more likely to score a run as a result.

I think that matters. It's not Rendon's fault that he bats sixth and I get the counter-argument to that statement: It's not Votto's fault that the Reds stink and thus he has no chance at MVP honors. So why hold circumstances against Rendon and not Votto? I view it as a different type of context. Yes, I think the best player should win MVP honors, but when so many players have an argument as "best," you have to dig into the layers.

A secondary note is that Rendon hasn't hit as well as the other players in high-leverage situations. Bellinger's MVP case, for example, rests somewhat on several late-inning game-tying or go-ahead home runs. The two Rockies have killed it in the clutch. Rendon has been OK, but not great, and that's part of the reason his Win Probability is the lowest of all the candidates. Again, an extra layer to consider his overall value.

Rendon has obviously had a great season. In a simulation league, you might want to draft him above all the others. In real life he hits sixth, which might cost him the MVP award.