Chicago Cubs shouldn’t worry about Anthony Rizzo early in the season

Chicago Cubs: We’ve seen slow starts from Rizzo before

First, let’s start with a macro view.

Last season, Bryant was scorching hot out of the gates, putting up a .948 OPS in the season’s first month. Such a strong start to open the season really contrasts with what we’ve seen so far in 2019. The same cannot be said for Rizzo, however.

In his career, Rizzo carries an unimpressive .235 average in the month of April. So, yes, even by his standards, he’s underperformed this season – but it’s really nothing out of the ordinary. He’s still getting on base (.367 career April OBP versus a .341 clip so far this year) and working counts, just like he always does.

As temperatures heat up, so, usually, does Rizzo’s offense. And, despite his slow start pretty much annually, the first baseman has eclipsed 100 RBI in each of the last four campaigns. Last season, his power numbers were down a bit (he hit just 25 home runs and totaled 29 doubles) – but he was still a force to be reckoned with in the middle of Chicago’s lineup.

Essentially, we’ve come to expect the slow start from Anthony Rizzo, so seeing him struggle in April doesn’t set off the same alarms that seeing someone like Bryant does. Between that and the fact that a lot of folks started questioning if the latter will live up to the lofty expectations he set early in his career have made objectively evaluating the Cubs’ two sluggers a unique challenge this season.