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Revisiting Anthony Rizzo's 2023 concussion: How injury might've led to retirement

On Wednesday morning, it was announced that Chicago Cubs legend Anthony Rizzo is retiring and is doing so as a Cub. He was an instrumental part of the Cubs' World Series win in 2016 and was a legend in Chicago during his time with the team.

But in 2021, he was traded to the New York Yankees, where he finished out his Major League career. However, with the Yankees, Rizzo suffered an unfortunate concussion during a game against the San Diego Padres that had a huge impact on Rizzo's career.

Now that Rizzo has retired, looking back on his concussion, it's not hard to link the end of his career with the unfortunate injury he suffered in 2023. Rizzo's concussion might've ended his career earlier than it otherwise would've.

Anthony Rizzo's Career Cut Short Due to Concussion

During a game on May 28th against the Padres in 2023, Rizzo was playing first base when he and Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. accidentally collided at first base on a pickoff play. Rizzo missed three games with what, at the time, the Yankees called a "stiff neck."

But, over two months later, on August 3rd, the Yankees placed Rizzo on the injured list with post-concussion syndrome. In a story on ESPN.com, Aaron Boone expressed some regret over the handling of the injury.

"I think you have regret if something doesn't get diagnosed right away," Boone said. "So yeah, you always want everything to be (diagnosed), but that's not the reality sometimes. I think all the right things, the right steps were happening. So you can't go back. But sure, you would have liked right away (to have) been able to know exactly what he was going to start dealing with."

The delay in placing Rizzo on the injured list after the collision and in diagnosing a concussion was met with backlash. A big reason why this situation was met with scrutiny, beyond the delay in injury diagnosis, was the difference in production for Rizzo.

Rizzo, between the injury on May 28th and his placement on the injured list in August, played in 46 games. During those 46 games played after coming back from the collision at first base, Rizzo hit just .172 with a .496 OPS in 169 at-bats. In the 53 games before the injury, across 204 at-bats, Rizzo was hitting .304 with an .880 OPS.

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It's a massive difference that can't be ignored. Rizzo was clearly not 100 percent, as his offensive production was nearly cut in half after the collision at first base.

Rizzo came back in 2024 with the Yankees, and across 92 games, he hit just .228 with a .637 OPS. He clearly wasn't back to his former self and struggled the entire season.

After his lackluster 2024, Rizzo went unsigned in free agency as the Yankees moved on from the Cubs legend, and no other team signed the first baseman.

Now, in September of 2025, well after the trade deadline, Rizzo is announcing his retirement, and it's hard not to see his 2023 concussion as the beginning of the end of Rizzo's MLB career.

Rizzo spent one year with the San Diego Padres as a rookie in 2011 before being traded to the Cubs in 2012, where he would go on to spend the next 10 years of his MLB career, making it to three All-Star games and helping the Cubs win the 2016 World Series.

The Cubs legend finishes his MLB career with 303 home runs, 1,644 hits, and 40.4 WAR with four Gold Gloves, one Platinum Glove, and 965 RBIs across 14 seasons with the Padres, Cubs, and Yankees.

It was an incredible career, but it's hard not to forget how it ended, as the concussion might've cut his career shorter than it should've been, as before it, he was still hitting like one of the best players in baseball.