How Anthony Rizzo skipped to the front of the line of my favorite athletes
The reality is I could write a glowing piece about each individual position player on the Cubs presently (though the pitching staff is becoming more difficult all the time to fall in love with).
I’ve always liked Rizzo. But I suppose because there wasn’t really anything spectacular about him, he was easy to pass over in the favorite player lineup.
Before they left, Jorge Soler and Dexter Fowler were two of my favorite Cubs (Fowler is one of the other rare baseball players willing to speak out on social issues, and now in St. Louis, he and his wife are feeling the brunt of that heat, especially since he is not producing with the Cardinals the way he did with the Cubs).
Jake Arrieta remains a man crush of mine, and is one of the few players I’ve actually followed devoutly since he left the Cubs. I’m even a lightweight Phillies fan now because of him, and former LSU Tiger Aaron Nola, leading the starting pitching staff.
But in those player’s absences in Chicago, Rizzo has risen to the top of the list, just after his running mate, Bryant.
It’s part social activism, part team leadership, and part him just being a great baseball player. It’s the perfect triumvirate of factors that make Rizzo the ideal athlete to root for.
Let’s review quickly: in addition to the voice of affirmation he provided to Parkland students to bolster their activism, Rizzo was the 2017 Roberto Clemente award winner, mostly due to the work he’s done to support and help fund a cure for childhood cancer. He is also known to actually visit children in the hospital on days when the Cubs are off or playing at night.
Joe Maddon has often put him in the leadoff spot when the team is scuffling offensively (though this season he’s mostly hit in the cleanup spot). One of the most memorable moments of Rizzo, and the overall leadership he provides the Cubs is this:
Not known for stealing bases, Rizzo surprised even himself on this steal of third.
In the overall scheme of things, this came in a regular season game in 2015. Interestingly, after sweeping this four-game series in New York, the Cubs would then go on to get swept by the Mets a few months later in the NLCS.
But that was before the Cubs even had all their pieces in place. Neither the aformentioned Heyward or Zobrist were on board yet. But that 2015 team, even more than the 2016 World Series champs, was just a downright fun team.
The Cubs are still fun. And Rizzo is a big part of continually setting that demeanor and approach to playing the game.
And then there’s the production. From 2014 to 2017 he hit exactly 32 home runs three of the four years. The other? He hit 31. He has RBI totals in three consecutive years of 101, 109, 109 (2015 to 2017). He’s on pace to drive in somewhere between 100 and 110 runs again this year.
In other words, he’s the ultimate mark of consistency. The Cubs know pretty much exactly what they’re gonna get from Mr. Rizzo, both on and off the field — an exemplary model citizen and a near MVP-type first baseman.
I guess Theo Epstein knew what he was looking at in 2007 when he drafted the high schooler from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://selfscroll.com/how-anthony-rizzo-skipped-to-the-front-of-the-line-of-my-favorite-athletes/