Chicago Cubs: What to make of Anthony Rizzo’s home run slump

Chicago Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo has not been finding the seats in the last month or so, but it may not be something to think twice about.

The last time Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo hit a home run was on June 15 off Kenley Jansen at Dodger Stadium. This puts his home run-less streak at 26 games. His game-winning blast that night was home run number 19 on the year, which, at the time felt like he was on pace to shatter his career-high of 32 home runs. The Chicago slugger is one home run shy of seven straight 20-plus home run seasons.

So what is up with the power outage? Is it a slump? The truth of the matter is despite the lack of home runs, Rizzo has been red hot at the plate. Over the past 26 games which he has not homered, he has slashed .300/.407/.422 with nine doubles and a .830 OPS. In July alone he is slashing .386/.472/.568 with a 1.040 OPS.

A follow-up question to these numbers could be, is he just not hitting home runs because he has not been able to? Or is he exchanging some power for contact? Just looking at Rizzo’s career as a hitter and his approach it is very easy to theorize an exchange of power for contact is what we are seeing a lot of.