The Yankees’ previous manager used to always say ‘it’s not what you want,’ and this is it: first baseman Anthony Rizzo has a fractured finger, the result of being hit by a pitch in the seventh inning of Saturday’s 9-4 loss to the Pirates.
However, manager Aaron Boone isn’t certain Rizzo won’t be an option for the ALDS when it begins on October 5.
“He has a fracture in his fingers, right in the fourth and fifth fingers,” Boone said as he opened his post-game press conference. “We’ll see what we have as the week moves forward. Doesn’t totally rule him out, it’s something that’s a pain tolerance thing, so we’ll see what we have as the days unfold here and what’s realistic. Dr. Ahmad said it’s an injury that lends itself to pain tolerance – you’re not in danger of anything more, it’s how you handle it.”
Boone wasn’t initially concerned when he came out to check on Rizzo, who actually stayed in the game to run the bases before being removed, based on how the first baseman was presenting after the 222nd hit by pitch of his career.
“Not really because he does that (screams) sometimes, but once I got out there, I knew he was hurting,” Boone said. “As we were out there, he felt like it was feeling better, but we tested it in between innings with his glove on and it didn’t feel right, so we had to get him out of there.
But he’s pretty upbeat right now, and trying to have a positive frame of mind about it.”
Rizzo finishes with a .228 average in just 92 games this season, as he missed 2 ½ months with a fractured wrist suffered in June, but since returning on Sept. 1, he has hit .247 with seven RBI and solidified the Yankees’ defense.
“No question, he’s come back and done a really good job for us. He’s helped anchor our defense and given us really good at-bats at the bottom of the order,” Boone said. “I don’t want to jump to anything, so we’ll see how he responds in the next few days before we kick this thing off in a week.”
Oswaldo Cabrera, who moved from shortstop to first base for the final two innings, is likely to play there in Sunday’s finale, and he is the only player on the current 26-man roster who has played first base at any point this season – and of the entire group, Jose Trevino, who played one-third of an inning at first for Texas in 2020, is the only player on the roster with ANY first base experience as a pro.
If Rizzo cannot go in the ALDS, Boone did mention Ben Rice’s performance in Triple-A in September and said he could be in the mix, and there’s also always DJ LeMahieu, who has been on the IL with a hip issue but has said in recent days he is feeling better.