Anthony Rizzo had been playing with concussion for over two months?
Sep 24, 2022; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo (48) gestures to the dugout after hitting a two run home run in the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Yankees have a lot of explaining to do given what has apparently transpired with Anthony Rizzo over the last couple of months.
The team announced Thursday that the three-time All-Star first baseman Rizzo was going on the 10-day injured list with “post-concussion syndrome.”
Prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees made the following roster moves:
• Placed INF Anthony Rizzo on the 10-day injured list with post-concussion syndrome.
• Recalled INF/OF Oswaldo Cabrera (#95) from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 3, 2023
Yankees manager Aaron Boone made the troubling revelation to reporters that the team had traced Rizzo’s issues back to a collision with San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr … that occurred over two months ago.
Aaron Boone said Anthony Rizzo is going on the IL with a “likely concussion” that they’ve traced back to the Tatis collision.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) August 3, 2023
Rizzo collided with Tatis on a play at first base in which his head banged off Tatis’ hip. That collision took place all the way back on May 28.
Tatis hip got rizzo on the face/head. pic.twitter.com/gI9GLhRqwo
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) May 28, 2023
Boone says that the 33-year-old Rizzo went through MLB concussion protocol at the time of the injury and passed all testing, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. But Rizzo had apparently been complaining of fogginess in recent days, and subsequent testing had showed cognitive impairment.
Rizzo himself opened up to reporters on Thursday about his symptoms. He said that he had been experiencing fatigue, was waking up feeling as though he was “hungover,” and had even been suffering through mental lapses such as forgetting the number of outs in an inning.
Here is the video of Rizzo’s remarks.
Anthony Rizzo details the timeline of his issues since his collision with Fernando Tatís Jr. back in May
"I've struggled plenty in this game, but I've also done it for a long time to know that you usually come out and there's signs of coming out" pic.twitter.com/6jtFb5UV1u
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 3, 2023
A career .263 hitter who had 32 home runs just last season, Rizzo had been in an extended slump since the collision with Tatis. His before-and-after batting splits ever since that incident paint a very troublesome picture.
https://twitter.com/PatPryor_/status/1687224156121710592
While it sounds like the Yankees went through all the proper protocol when the collision first happened, they will still face scrutiny over why Rizzo was not more closely monitored in the following days, weeks, and months. He was in a very uncharacteristic slump that directly coincided with the Tatis collision, and yet somehow it seems that nobody on the team had a clue that anything was wrong. On top of the troubling saga the Yankees have had with another key player, the Rizzo situation is definitely a very bad look for them.
