Although it came in a losing effort, Anthony Rizzo continued his offensive dominance last night with another couple homers.
First, a solo rocket upper-decker to right:
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And then a two-run shot to center field:
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Those were homers 10 and 11 for Rizzo on the year, who raised his slash line to .325/.445/.602. He’s got a .444 wOBA and a 182 wRC+, the latter of which ties him with Adrian Gonzalez for the second best by a first baseman in the NL (notable, given how far and away ahead of everyone Gonzalez was just a few weeks ago).
If that doesn’t sound impressive, let me put it this way: that’s the third best wRC+ in baseball. Only Bryce Harper and Paul Goldschmidt are higher. By wOBA, Rizzo is alone in third behind those two guys.
In other words, Rizzo is having an elite-elite-elite offensive season right now. He’s walking (12.7%) more often than he strikes out (10.6%), and that latter figure is almost impossibly low. It’s the 11th lowest strikeout rate among ALL regulars in baseball this year. For a guy who can hit the ball as hard and far as Rizzo, that’s insane.
Speaking of hitting the ball hard and far: Home Run Tracker says the first homer was hit harder than the second (109.2 mph off the bat versus 106.1 mph), but the second homer went farther (432 feet versus 402 feet). But, yeah, look at those numbers: those were both crushed.