Midway through spring training, Anthony Rizzo said he felt healthy and the post-concussion symptoms that plagued him last year and eventually shut him down were gone.
His back felt good and he was having a solid Grapefruit League season.
So he wasn’t especially concerned about getting back to normal during the regular season.
“Spring training is spring training, but coming off how my year ended personally last year, I put a little more stock into this spring,’’ Rizzo said while in Tampa last month. “Just given how I was feeling last year. I told someone recently that if April comes and, God forbid, I don’t get off to the best start — and I’ve gotten off to many slow starts in my career — it’s not gonna be because any doubt creeps into my brain about not being healthy. Now it’s just about going and playing the regular season.”
But heading into Saturday night’s game against the Blue Jays in The Bronx, Rizzo was off to a less-than-stellar start: He was just 7-for-31 with a double, an RBI, three walks and seven strikeouts, good for just an OPS of .572.
Rizzo drilled a single off the wall in right field in Friday’s home opener and followed it up with his first homer of the season in the bottom of the fifth of Saturday’s 9-8 win over Toronto. It was a two-run shot off the right field foul pole.
It’s what the Yankees are counting on, as they look for Rizzo to bounce back after he missed the final two months of 2023.
“Your value as a player is in playing,’’ Rizzo said. “There’s nothing worse as an athlete than not playing. That’s when you really feel the worst. Even when you’re playing and going bad, it’s easier than not playing at all. So it feels good to be in this spot, all the head stuff is behind me and my back was really good last year when I was out there.”
Still, he hadn’t hit a ball over 103 mph this season and his average exit velocity of 84.7 mph and hard-hit rate of 29.2 percent are far below his career marks.
And so far this season, Rizzo has hit far more balls on the ground than in previous years and by default, less fly balls.
That’s not what he or the Yankees are looking for from the left-handed slugger that hasn’t benefited much from the shift ban and needs to hit home runs in order to be effective.
Despite Rizzo’s contention that he’s accustomed to sluggish starts, his career OPS in March and April of .841 is in line with his overall career OPS of .837.
But the line-drive single to right that was measured at 102.1 mph on Friday could be an indication that Rizzo is beginning to heat up.
The days of Rizzo getting on base at a nearly 40 percent clip are likely behind him, but if the Yankees offense is going to live up to expectations, the 34-year-old will have to deliver more than he has in the early going.
