(AUDACY) First baseman Anthony Rizzo was certainly on the Red Sox's radar. It was one of the reasons why they assigned scout Dana LeVangie to shadow the Cubs over the past few weeks.
But when the dust cleared, Rizzo was wearing Yankees uniform and the Red Sox were left hoping Kyle Schwarber could learn how to play first base.
How it will shake out remains to be seen. Schwarber is still on the injured list with a hamstring injury, having still manned first base for a total of one batter during his professional career.
But if we're going to go off first impressions, Rizzo and the Yankees have certainly won the day.
Rizzo has reached base in seven of his first eight plate appearances for the Yankees and homered in each of those first two games with New York.
“The heat of (the playoff) chase definitely invigorated him,’’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after his team's win against the Marlins on Saturday night, bringing the Yankees to within five games in the loss column of the Red Sox. “I think he is one of those guys who truly does live for that.”
Despite Rizzo's somewhat down year, it might be a situation of the right place at the right time for the free agent-to-be. He has now homered in four of his last five games, posting a .444 batting average and 1.608 OPS in his previous eight games.