The New York Yankees will be without a first baseman for the foreseeable future.
Anthony Rizzo, who exited Sunday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox with an injury, has a fracture to the radial neck of his right arm, according to The Athletic. Rizzo will not need surgery, but his absence is expected to last four to six weeks.
In the seventh inning of Sunday night’s game, Rizzo ran out an infield hit before reaching on an error. However, he collided with pitcher Brennan Bernardino as he ran from the mound to cover first base. Bernardino was unable to make the play, but Rizzo took the brunt of it.
The impact sent him to the ground, where he remained for a time before walking off the field with trainers. Here is a video of the play.
Aaron Boone, the Yankees manager, knew it wasn’t good the moment he saw it.
“When he didn’t get up right away, I could tell he was in some pain,” Boone told reporters after the game.
“You don’t see that from Rizz,” Judge told reporters. “He usually leads Major League Baseball in hit-by-pitches, so he’s comfortable dealing with pain. “He is tough.”
Anthony Rizzo left the game after this collision at first base. pic.twitter.com/ee4gurvVFR
— ESPN (@espn) June 17, 2024
Rizzo, a three-time All-Star with the Chicago Cubs, gets off to a rough start in 2024, his fourth season with the Yankees. In 70 games, Rizzo has a.223/.289/.341 batting line with eight home runs and 28 RBI. His.630 OPS would be the lowest of his career, dating back to his first season in 2011, when he played 49 games with the San Diego Padres.
Rizzo took consecutive days off last week to focus on his swing and get back on track. That resulted in hits in three consecutive games from June 12 to 14.
However, Rizzo will now be out for an extended period of time, leaving the Yankees with a massive hole on the right side of their infield. One alternative could be to move D.J. LeMahieu from third base to first base, where he has 1,371.2 career innings, including 29 this season. Aside from LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera is the only other Yankee who has played first base this season.
If Rizzo is out for an extended period of time, the Yankees may attempt to get an infielder capable of playing first base before next month’s deadline. There are also plenty of recently DFA’d first basemen who could step in for the time being.
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