Anthony Rizzo has made enough progress over the past two weeks that he hasn’t considered shutting it down for the rest of 2023.
The Yankees’ starting first baseman resumed hitting in an indoor batting cage Friday, 15 days after he was placed on the injured list with post-concussion syndrome that the medical staff believes stems from a May 28 collision between Rizzo and Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr.
Speaking with the media before the series opener against the Red Sox on Friday at the Stadium, Rizzo said he’s no longer experiencing “fogginess,” and his reaction times have improved to closer to normal levels.
“Definitely encouraging,” Rizzo said. “All signs are pointing towards quicker, faster, sharper of what I guess normal was.
“The biggest thing is just feeling better on a day-to-day basis. I think waking up daily and feeling normal and not kind of being hindered by what I think is going on or whatnot … The fogginess has subdued. [Doctors] say once that starts happening, it’s all good things.”
After he was initially injured against the Padres in May, Rizzo continued playing and batted just .176 with one home run, nine RBIs and a .496 OPS in 46 games through Aug. 1.
The three-time All-Star stressed that he still has no firm timeline to return to action, but the last-place Yankees will have 40 games remaining this season following Friday.
“Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I’m back playing. I don’t know. You’ve got to take it day by day, week by week,” Rizzo said. “If we run out of time, then we run out of time.
“I wanted to be playing two weeks ago when this happened, so it’s really the doctor’s orders now with all this. Just one day at a time for me.”
The 34-year-old Rizzo, who is signed for next season for $17 million, added that he will push to make it back to the field this season rather than play it safe and shut himself down until 2024.
“As a baseball player, you want to play baseball. Shutting it down is not an option for me,” Rizzo said. “I don’t know how many more years I have left of doing this, so why shut it down and not play? The window’s small and it’s about getting back as fast as possible, and obviously as healthy as possible. But no, shutting down, for me, is not an option and hasn’t been discussed.
“Not playing, it just always sucks, no matter what it is. … But just getting back out there as fast as I can from here on out is always the goal.”
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