3 free agents the Pittsburgh Pirates must avoid this offseason

Anthony Rizzo

One may be able to justify Goldschmidt, given his lefty splits and still-solid numbers under the hood, but there would be no justification for signing another former All-Star first baseman in Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo looked like he was piecing together one of the best seasons of his career in 2023 when he ended May with a .304/.376/.505 triple-slash, .379 wOBA, and 144 wRC+. 

Then, unfortunately, he had a collision at first base with San Diego Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. on May 28, which led to a concussion. Rizzo played through the ailment, and has not looked like himself since. Over his last 567 plate appearances since the start of June 2023, Rizzo has hit just .209/.291/.298 with a .267 wOBA and 70 wRC+. Although he hasn’t struck out much, with a 19.2% K-rate, Rizzo also hasn’t drawn many walks, sporting a 7.9% BB%.

The power Rizzo was once known for has all but evaporated. He has just nine homers over this stretch and a sub-.100 isolated slugging percentage. His average exit velocity is just 87.7 MPH, while his barrel rate is a meager 3.5%. He was below the 30th percentile in every batting statistic on Baseball Savant, aside from whiff rate and strikeout rate.

Rizzo can still play a decent first base, but that’s about the only positive of the last two seasons for the former Chicago Cubs superstar. He doesn’t even have good enough splits to justify a part-time role. The circumstances surrounding Rizzo’s decline are very unfortunate, but the Pirates can’t afford to see Rizzo as a potential solution at first base.