New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a broken arm, the team announced Tuesday. Rizzo told reporters that he'll be shut down for four to five weeks before resuming baseball activities, but he won't need surgery. In a corresponding move, the Yankees have called up first baseman/catcher Ben Rice to take Rizzo's spot on the active roster.
Rizzo's injury occurred on Sunday night in the seventh inning of the Yankees' eventual 9-3 loss to the Red Sox. Rizzo tapped a grounder to the right side and then collided with lefty Brennan Bernardino, who was covering first base. Rizzo fell as a result of the collision and landed on his wrist.
Here's how the injury came about:
Yanks load the bases but Rizzo is down grabbing his hand pic.twitter.com/nyRYZ33pBR
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) June 17, 2024
Rizzo immediately exited the game and was replaced by pinch-runner Oswaldo Cabrera. He underwent imaging on Monday that revealed the full extent of his injury.
Rizzo in this, his age-34 season is batting a disappointing .223/.289/.341 with eight home runs in 70 games. By comparison, the average big-league first baseman this season has a slash line of .242/.318/.397. Really, Rizzo hasn' been his usual self at the plate since suffering a concussion on May 28 of last year and being allowed to play for weeks despite showing symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. Rizzo is owed the balance of a $17 million salary for this season, and his contract includes a $17 million club option or a $6 million buyout for 2025.
As for the 25-year-old Rice, he's a former 12th-rounder out of the Dartmouth. A lefty batsman, Rice this season owns a slash line of .275/.393/.532 with 15 home runs, 40 walks, and nine steals in 60 combined games at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. For his pro career, Rice has an OPS of .920 across parts of four minor-league seasons. He didn't make CBS Sports' top Yankees prospect list, but MLB Pipeline ranked him No. 12 in the organization.
"It's just continuing to see more pitching," Rice told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch in an interview published Monday. "The more I got used to the stuff that guys had at this level or in pro ball in general, the more I was able to take that power I have in practice settings and see it translate to the game."
New York entered Tuesday with a 50-24 record that put them in 1 1/2 games up on the Orioles in the American League East.
