Cubs star Anthony Rizzo is hardly recognizable after impressive weight loss (Photos)

Anthony Rizzo is looking slim.

As we’ve seen, there is plenty of changes around Major League Baseball since the COVID-19 outbreak. But one significant change comes from Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo. It appears as though Rizzo has shed some weight during the last few months.

In a report from Yahoo! Sports, Rizzo has dropped about 25 pounds. He has been training with quality assurance coach Mike Napoli, who has helped him make the transformation. He said that he was already in good shape going into spring training, but that he and Napoli were quarantine buddies and kept each other quarantine.

Since summer camp started this past week, his teammates including Ian Happ have noticed the change and seem to be all for it. Happ said he loves the change. He said, “Rizzo does look phenomenal. I was watching him try on smaller clothes because everything he had was a little large. So very nice to see him downsizing. He looks absolutely wonderful.”

Anthony Rizzo’s weight loss makes him look like a different person.

Rizzo half-joked that when he got home from spring training in March, he was either going to gain 50 pounds or get back into shape. And judging from the looks of things, he’s made great progress ahead of the upcoming 60-game season.

For Rizzo, staying healthy and making improvements is especially important. In 2008, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So taking every precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic is as important as ever, even though he says he’s “technically cured.” He said his oncologist contacted him after spring training was canceled, and stressed the importance of washing his hands and wearing a face mask.

It’s going to be interesting to see how his progress will translate onto the field. Teammates are saying he’s looking faster and just overall better. That gives a lot of hope for the Cubs, as they look to squeeze a successful season into a roughly two-month window.