There is plenty of uncertainty regarding Anthony Rizzo’s future, and whether or not he still has staying power in the big leagues. Rizzo has already accomplished a lot in his career, but with him not being able to secure a home for the 2025 season just yet, one would have to wonder whether or not he’s already had his last at-bat contributing for the World Series runner-up New York Yankees.
With Spring Training already underway, Rizzo is facing uncertainty he’s never gone through in the past when he was a key contributor for the Chicago Cubs and Yankees. Nevertheless, the veteran first baseman, who somehow is already 35 years of age, is still adamant about his plans of playing in the majors in 2025.
“I’ve definitely thought about it. I think I have a lot to give to the game still,” Rizzo said in an interview with Ken Rosenthal and Brandon Kuty of The Athletic.
Rizzo has to face the music, however. He’s in the middle of a steep decline, and his 2024 season was the worst yet of his career. And now that he’s continuing to age, his 2024 campaign might be the new norm instead of being the outlier.
At the very least, the 35-year-old first baseman is aware that his age may end up scaring teams off, so he’s bracing for the possibility that he has indeed seen the last of the big leagues.
“But at the same time, if teams are not going to want to pay a few million dollars for veterans, I’ve seen it the last 10 years of my career. It’s what happens to the older guys. They kind of get squeezed. You’ve seen it happen more and more. I’m not naive to it. It could be it,” Rizzo added.
This could be the end of Anthony Rizzo’s career
The free-agent market doesn’t tend to be kind towards declining sluggers who provide not much defensive value. Anthony Rizzo qualifies as such. He doesn’t play any position other than first base, and his trend of production at the plate has become very worrying.
In 2024, Rizzo put up a slash line of .228/.301/.335, which was worth a poor -0.2 WAR (per Fangraphs). On top of performing at his worst level since his brief cameo back in 2011, he also went through injury woes, fracturing his fingers which sent his 2024 season spiraling from bad to worse. With bat speed declining with age and the risk of injury only becoming more heightened, Rizzo may very well have to wait for him to become an injury signing midseason for him to get another shot.
The post Anthony Rizzo’s sobering take on MLB playing future amid lingering free agency appeared first on ClutchPoints.
