Chicago Cubs 2014 Offseason Player Evaluation: Anthony Rizzo
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
With the end of the 2014 season, the Chicago Cubs will be reevaluating their starting roster in order to prepare for next year. One thing the Cubs will look to capitalize on next year is their young, explosive offense. The leader of this push is Chicago’s 25-year-old first baseman, Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo put up an amazing All-Star season after a dismal 2013 season where he produced a batting average of .233 and only put up 23 home runs. In his bounce back 2014 season, Rizzo had a slash line (BAA/OBP/SLG) of .286/.386/.527 and he hit 32 home runs.
One key to Rizzo’s improvement was that the young first baseman actually started to hit against left-handed pitching. In 2013, Rizzo looked like a child against lefties, posting a .189 batting average against southpaws. This season however, he improved to batting an even .300 against them. This increase in batting average came from the adjustments he made in spring training. The first baseman started going the other way with outside pitches and he began walking more, turning into Chicago’s own version of Joey Votto.
In spring training, Rizzo made an adjustment to his approach not only against lefties, but in general. If you watched any of this season, you saw that more often than not teams employed a shift that countered the first baseman’s pull tendencies. In response to this, Rizzo started focusing on hitting the ball to the opposite field, as well as incorporating a bunt base hit to his repertoire whenever teams would shift their third baseman.
Another thing Rizzo started to do that made him so effective was that he started to absolutely rake against right handed pitching. He batted .281 with an on-base percentage of .373 and he hit 24 homers against righties in 2014. That’s eight homers better than last year. This kind of offensive production on both sides of the plate equals a perennial All-Star. So, even though Rizzo’s production may be lost in the hoopla of Kris Bryant’s promotion next year, he will be a driving factor in whether or not the Cubs are competitive in 2015.
Matthew Haines is a Chicago Cubs writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @mhaine86 , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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