From April 30 to May 19, Anthony Rizzo homered just one time. That’s the kind of streak that just isn’t going to last.
In his last four games, then, Rizzo has homered four times. That matches his homer total over the preceding month, going back to a stretch in mid-April when he homered in three straight games. He goes on these binges.
Last night’s second homer was probably the most impressive of the bunch, traveling 429 feet into the wind. Here are both shots from last night (via @Cubs):
Four homers in his last four games! 🔥#VoteRizzo: https://t.co/WfvHWtpklL #VoteCubs pic.twitter.com/hBTLCaZUuk
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 25, 2017
That shot was Rizzo’s second of the game and 11th of the year, tying him with a group of guys at 12th in the NL. Those two homers also leapfrogged him over Kris Bryant (10) for the team lead in homers.
After a slow stretch, Rizzo’s line is now back up to .238/.376/.470 with a 120 wRC+, sneaking him back into the top 30 in the NL.
Fun with small samples: in the the four-game homer stretch, Rizzo is hitting .417/.563/1.417 with a 12.5% BB rate and a 0.0% K rate (that’s right, he hasn’t struck out).
How about this: going back to the Cardinals series starting on May 12, which came immediately after Rizzo got a couple days of rest in Colorado, he’s hitting .314/.489/.743 over 47 plate appearances with five home runs. That’s a 208 wRC+, with a 21.3% BB rate and an 8.5% K rate. The best part? He’s still not getting any BABIP luck – he put up those numbers despite a .231 BABIP during that stretch!
Rizzo’s been so consistently good for so long now that it’s become easy to take his production for granted. But when he’s off, the whole offense takes a serious hit, as we saw over the three-week stretch before he’s broken back out.