Anthony Rizzo deserves better from Yankees than medical malpractice

The New York Yankees placed Anthony Rizzo on the injured list thanks to concussion-like symptoms dating back to mid-May.

In a May 28 game against the San Diego Padres, Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo collided with Fernando Tatis Jr. Rizzo has since dealt with the after-effects, albeit silently and without complaint, but something was clearly off.

Concussions can have a drastic impact on the career of any professional athlete. Being a mostly non-contact sport, baseball doesn’t have nearly as many head injuries as, say, professional football, but it still must be taken seriously. The fact it took New York’s medical staff a little over two months to act shows a stunning lack of awareness that borders on malpractice.

What were the Yankees thinking?

Anthony Rizzo deserves better from Yankees

Rizzo is a quiet type. He leads by example, and puts his body on the line night after night, even for a losing cause like the 2023 Yankees. However, that doesn’t mean he should be playing with concussion-like symptoms, regardless of the urgency to win in the biggest baseball market in the United States.

Yanks Go Yard’s Adam Weinrib put it best: The Yankees should be ashamed.

"“It’s pretty difficult to have faith in this team’s medical staff when “a fan watching one video” could uncover something it took the Yankees two months to attempt to diagnose. When Rizzo was hip-checked startlingly hard by Fernando Tatis Jr. in a May 28 game against the Padres, then left the contest, it seemed likely he had a neck issue, concussion, or both.”"

It should be noted that Rizzo passed concussion protocol at the time of the incident, but anyone who has suffered a concussions knows the lasting effects of head injuries. Often, athletes in particular won’t feel the symptoms in the immediate testing stage.

Surely, New York’s medical staff knows this, and far more than any of us at FanSided can tell them about head injuries. That’s what makes this story all the more egregious.