Midway through spring training, Anthony Rizzo said he feels healthy and the post-concussion symptoms that plagued him last year and ultimately shut him down are gone.
His back was feeling good and he had a productive season in the Grapefruit League.
So he wasn’t particularly worried about getting back to normal during the regular season.
“Spring training is spring training, but I personally put a little more effort into this spring based on how last year ended,” Rizzo said while in Tampa last month. “When I think about how I felt last year, I said to someone recently, “What if April came around and I didn’t get off to the best possible start?” “I cut it — and I said it’s not because there’s some question creeping into my mind, that I’m not healthy. Now all I want to do is come out and play in the regular season.”
Now, we’re in the regular season, with Saturday night’s game in the Bronx against the Blue Jays, and Rizzo is one of several veteran Yankees who aren’t off to a great start.
He has seven hits, a double, one RBI, three walks, and seven strikeouts in 31 at-bats for an OPS of just .572.
Rizzo singled against the wall in right field in Friday’s home opener, but he was part of an offensive line that ranked near the bottom of the majors in runs scored, home runs and OPS.
Outside of Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, and the surprising performance of Oswaldo Cabrera, the Yankees haven’t had much success at the plate.
That’s one reason the Yankees are counting on Rizzo to bounce back after missing the final two months of 2023.
“Your value as a player is in playing,” Rizzo said. “For an athlete, there’s nothing worse than not playing. That’s when you feel really bad. Even if you’re playing and you’re sick, it’s better than not playing at all. That’s why I’m here. It feels good and all my head is behind me and my back felt really good when I went out there last year.”
Still, he hasn’t hit a ball faster than 163 mph this season, and his average exit velocity of 84.7 mph and hard-hitting rate of 29.2 percent are well below career marks.
And so far this season, Rizzo has been hitting far more balls on the ground than usual, and fewer fly balls by default.
That’s not what he or the Yankees want from a left-handed slugger who doesn’t benefit much from the shift ban and needs to hit home runs to be effective.
Despite Rizzo’s claims that he’s used to slow starts, his career OPS of .841 in March and April is in line with his career OPS of .837.
But a line-drive single to right that was clocked at 162.1 mph on Friday could be a sign that Rizzo is starting to heat up.
The days of Rizzo getting on base nearly 40 percent of the time may be over, but if the Yankees offense is to live up to expectations, the 34-year-old will have to produce more than he did early on.
