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After Joe Maddon decided to bat Tony Kemp at leadoff on Wednesday, he finally went back to the one guy who doesn’t ever seem phased by moving to top of the lineup. Anthony Rizzo was the leadoff hitter in the Cubs 4-1 win Thursday against the Padres and he started the game with a walk, scoring in the first inning on a sac-fly.
For whatever reason Jason Heyward and Kyle Schwarber change their entire approach when hitting first, so both of them have been crossed out as options to hit leadoff. Ben Zobrist gave the team a quick boost, but even he isn’t close to being as reliable as Rizzo at this point of the season.
Rizzo leads the team in OBP, batting average and has the second most walks on the Cubs. When he gets to two strikes, he chokes up and takes what he can get from pitchers. He’s proven that he can handle the leadoff spot and hopefully Maddon will keep him there.
We’ll at least see it for two games in a row.
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The Cubs start a 10-game home stand on Friday. It’ll be their final home stand of the season before six games on the road to end the year.
