The New York Yankees have had a little dysfunction at the first base position over the past few years.
In every season since 2018, the Bronx Bombers have had a different Opening Day first baseman and haven’t really had much stability at the position ever since then.
The trend began with Tyler Austin getting the start at first base for the Yankees back in 2018.
Then Greg Bird got the nod on Opening Day in 2019.
A tweet below from Pete Caldera shows all of the different Opening Day first basemen over the past five years and how the Yankees, after several experiments, have finally found a suitable upgrade at the position in Anthony Rizzo.
The last 5 Yankees' Opening Day first basemen…
2022 Anthony Rizzo
2021 Jay Bruce
2020 Luke Voit
2019 Greg Bird
2018 Tyler Austin— Pete Caldera (@pcaldera) April 8, 2022
A True First Baseman
The Yankees thought they had finally found somebody with Luke Voit, but his injury history put that into doubt.
However, with Rizzo, they finally have an All-Star caliber player at the position.
This is a veteran guy who knows how to win and has been a part of great teams before.
He’s a former All-Star and World Series champion himself, and he already is off to a great start in 2021, having absolutely destroyed an 87-mph splitter from Boston Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, which helped the Yanks chip away at an early 3-0 deficit.
Rizzo is taking that first base job and running with it in New York.
He is the first legitimate first baseman the team has had since Mark Teixeira and has been a force to be reckoned with in his new uniform since being traded over from the Chicago Cubs last July.
We’ll see if Rizzo lasts as the Yankees’ full-time first baseman.
He certainly is off to a pretty good start.
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