Anthony Rizzo’s season has made absolutely zero sense

The Yankees are a good baseball team. The Yankees are currently leading the American League East and are top-5 in the MLB in batting average, home runs, and on- base percentage. They are a great team, and a big part of their offensive prowess is first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

The former Cub has been doing well. He is currently tied for the Major League lead in home runs with nine and has recorded a.938 OPS through 107 plate appearances. I don't want you to complain about his batting average. When you hit dingers in nearly one-out-of-every-12 at-bats, a.242 average is quite suitable. Is that joke of a ballpark helping him out? Yes, but he is playing in the park well and that is all that matters.

We begin to get into the head-scratching numbers here. On balls in play, he is hitting.197. The on-base percentage is.355, despite that horrendously low figure. That is not normal. It may sound weird, but it's nothing crazy. If I told you that in the history of MLB there have only been nine players to record a BABIP lower than.200 and still maintain an on-base percentage greater than.350 through at least 100 plate appearances, what would you think? The last time it was done was in 1987 when Gary Roenicke did it in his first year with the Atlanta Braves.

I know what you are thinking. Clearly this means that Rizzo takes a lot of walks. Not the case! Rizzo isn't drawing walks at a high rate. He is 70th in MLB in walk rate (10.3 percent) and that is the third-lowest mark of his career. Every other player on that list of nine recorded the highest walk rates of their careers, except for Charlie Sands who recorded the third-highest of his career.

I know that he doesn't take home runs into account, but it's not like he's hit an insane number of dingers. You would think that Rizzo would have hit 13 or 14 by this point, and that he would be drawing walks like Grandal did last season. He is still striking out at a 15 percent clip. He is drawing fewer walks, hitting a couple Yankee Stadium homers, and putting together one of the rare seasons in MLB history.

This level will not last. Over time, anyone with a BABIP that low will find their way back to normal. This year, he is going to see a lot of playing time. As his BABIP increases, we can expect to see his on- base percentage increase until one day, when he will be a solid hitter. It will be fun while it lasts.