Anthony Rizzo Addresses Yankees' Handling of Head Injury After Landing on IL

Rizzo said he doesn’t feel anyone “missed” a proper diagnosis of his concussion.

Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo was placed on the 10-day IL on Thursday due to post-concussion syndrome stemming from a head injury he sustained in May.

Speaking with The Athletic, Rizzo discussed the organization’s handling of his head injury, indicating that he “loved the way they handled it” and stating that he doesn’t feel anyone “missed” a proper diagnosis of his concussion.

“I don’t think anyone missed it, honestly,” Rizzo said. “We did the test. I passed the concussion test. I sat out for four days, played, felt fine and didn’t feel anything. Even talking to the neurologists, they said with concussions, sometimes it’s the after-effects. Maybe the brain wasn’t fully healed. As far as registering as a concussion, there were no signs of that. The way they handled it—the Yankees—I loved the way they handled it. They trusted me. I trusted them.”

Rizzo suffered the injury against the Padres in late May after a collision with Fernando Tatis Jr. at first base. Rizzo was removed from the game and subsequently passed MLB’s concussion protocol. He sat out a few games before returning to the lineup. 

Despite indicating he felt fine, Rizzo struggled massively during June and July and was statistically one of the worst hitters in the sport. He admitted he noticed he felt “tired” and “foggy” but attributed those to the grind of being in his 17th MLB season. 

“No one missed this,” Rizzo said. “Yes, it was missed. You had two months of me looking like I had no idea what I was doing but I was competing with the best I have. The training staff didn’t miss this. I don’t think I missed this. We combined and said let’s make sure we can see if something happened.”

The Athletic indicates MLB does not plan to investigate the Yankees’ handling of Rizzo’s head injury, and the team believes it followed the correct procedures.