Rizzo admits he can't wait for May to arrive
At least as a hitter, Anthony Rizzo is traditionally a slow starter. His career batting average in April is .238, easily the lowest of any month.
As a pitcher, he was pretty good Wednesday while facing three batters late in a 10-0 loss. At the plate, this year has been no different with a .222 average heading into Thursday's action.
"Every day is one day closer to May and I love getting out of April, for some reason," Rizzo said. "I don't really shy away from it anymore, I just set that May 1 (in my head).
"I feel good. I feel like every game I'm hitting the ball well and hitting the ball hard, squaring balls up. Sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. As far as my approach and all that, I feel it's right where it is. A couple balls landing and you're feeling a lot different. So just keep hitting the ball hard."
Pitcher Kyle Hendricks also tends to be a slow-starter. His April ERA is 4.78, but he's going through the worst stretch of his career right now, so the calendar is not necessarily on his mind.
"I'll try and look at it that way and take it that way," Hendricks said after giving up 7 runs in Wednesday's loss. "But that's not how you see it. You try to attack every game. I know I haven't been great in April, but moving forward, I've never been like this either.
"This is really bad right now. So I need to just simplify my focus, get back to establishing my heater with the right action that I normally have on it and start with that really."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls