The Tigers have acquired minor league infielder Joe Rizzo from the Marlins in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. The 25-year-old has been assigned to Triple-A Toledo.
Rizzo was a second-round pick of the Mariners back in 2016 but never advanced beyond the Double-A level in his original organization. He posted a solid .277/.343/.467 with Seattle’s Double-A affiliate last season, but the Mariners would’ve had to add him to add him to the 40-man roster in order to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency, and they opted not to do so. Rizzo signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in December.
The 2023 season hasn’t gone as well for Rizzo as the 2022 campaign. He returned to Double-A and posted a tepid .228/.298/.362 batting line through 142 plate appearances. Despite that below-average offense, he was bumped up to Triple-A Jacksonville, where he’s struggled to a .111/200/.139 output in 40 trips to the plate. Rizzo has primarily been a third baseman in his minor league career, with more than 4000 professional innings logged at the hot corner. He’s still seen notable action at both first base (724 innings) and second base (409 innings).
Baseball America ranked Rizzo 11th, ninth and 23rd among Mariners prospects on their respective 2017-19 rankings, but he’s since fallen off the prospect radar. He’s drawn praise for his bat-to-ball skills, raw power, throwing arm and makeup in those reports, but Rizzo’s on-field results have yet to align with the above-average rating he’s received on several tools and there are questions about his long-term defensive position. For now, he’ll get another change of scenery and fresh set of input from a new coaching and player development staff in hopes of taking his game to a new level and forcing his way into the big leagues.
Frank Rizzo’s son
That’s right jerky!
Sol Rosenberg says hello.
Tigers already have enough underperforming utility infielders so what’s the harm in adding another?!?!
That .111 batting average and weak defense at 3B fits right in with Harris’ M.O. But he takes walks!
Yeah, this DOES sound underwhelming…..but to be fair, that was the same reaction when they traded for McKinstry (myself included) but I’m glad to say I was way wrong about that one.
We were both wrong about that one.
Played High School ball with this guy and he’s one of the nicest, most hard-working men I’ve ever met. It’ll be well deserved if he can crack the big league roster this year or next.
Can’t be much worse than Ibanez.
Can I give 100 “thumbs up” to this comment? Same with Schoop and Tyler Nevin.
Or Maton, or Nevin.
They are going to play Maton all year. It’s to make him get better and he will be good in 2024.
Honus Wagner his own dang self wouldn’t be too much worse than Ibanez.
Hans couldn’t get a hit, obviously, but he should reach base via frequent base on balls from pitchers morbidly freaked out by the sight of an exhumed corpse at the plate.
I don’t know about Scott Harris, but Bill Veeck would have tried this had he only thought of it.
Never heard of him…or 90% of the players they post transactions about nowadays
To be fair, I’ll bet that most if not all of them have never heard of you either.
Lol, doesn’t make him an irrelevant baseball player any more or less trivial
churn
I’d be interested in more background of how a trade like this comes about.. Was Detroit looking for more depth at the upper minor league third base position? Did the Marlins let it be known they have given up on this guy and wanted to recoup some of their investment money? Does anyone with the Tigers expect Rizzo to make it to the majors at some point?
It would b interesting to see that info on alot of these players. I’d guess with the info provided here, the Tigers inquired as he wasn’t progressing through Marlins system and has taken a step back since last yr in Mariners system. I’d also have to assume someone in scouting and/or coaching sees something they can tweak and get the most put of this guy.
Regardless for cash considerations, they really can’t go wrong. Hopefully for both him and the Tigers they can turn him around.
I can see him at 3B in Erie and Colten Kieth moving up to Toledo at the end of June
Looks like they’ve assigned Rizzo to Toledo.
I feel strongly that Joe Rizzo and Vinnie Nittoli should be friends.
Maybe the Tigers are getting ready to promote Malloy? That seems a bit premature, but we’ll see.
Colt Keith won’t learn anything more at AA and needs to be challenged by better pitching. However, Malloy is kind of blocking his way at Toledo. Who’s blocking Malloy’s path to Detroit? Schoop and Nevin?
MIght need to promote Malloy and Keith. Malloy will be greatly challenged in MLB, but it has to happen at some time.
Malloy’s looks to b ready for MLB, however they ve been trying to make a 3B out of him. His glove is definitely not ready for MLB. Although the team could use the offense, if they truly believe he can succeed at 3B he needs to stay in Toledo til he gets over the hump. If he can get 3B down it would b huge for the Tigers. Would limit their biggest needs to a 2B and a veteran OF.
I do think there is finally starting to be light at the end of tunnel. Especially if and when these young arms get healthy.
I’d prefer for them to promote him when he’s hitting well. Malloy had a home run and a double yesterday. If he continues to hit over the next few days, he’ll make things a lot easier for the Tigers organization. Certainly, they want to promote him.
Let’s b honest here tho, promote him for what? To try and make a run at winning AL Central?? He is not ready to play 3B in MLB that much is clear by his play in Toledo, so he’d b DHing. Then that greatly diminishes the chances of him being a viable option at 3B next season. I know patience is wearing thin and I get it. But they are showing signs of turning a corner here, they need to let talent develop and rebuild go along accordingly. Not rush it cus there’s a slim chance that there has to b a defacto playoff team from division regardless if it’s truly deserved.
When Malloy starts hitting again, they’ll send him to Detroit. The Tigers are used to bad defense at third, they can live with it. Right now, they need more offense.
He has 7 errors and a .907 fielding % in AAA. That is beyond acceptable bad at MLB level.
They are 8 games under .500. The majority of their young pitching talent is hurt and those who make it back this season will b limited. They have zero need to rush Malloy at this time. They are trying to transition him to 3B, at this point they should see that through or transition him back to the OF at Toledo.
He’s back to splitting time between left field and third base, for the last several days.
Yawn
Thank you to the author, Steve Adams, for not using the questionable term “cash considerations”. Haha
Joe ratso rizzo
Crocker!Rizzo !Saperstein!
Classic Detroit Tigers move.
Weather it’s Al Avila or Scott Harris.
Always trying to catch lightning in a bottle with reclamation projects, journeymen “who need a change of scenery” and guys that were injured but have “reclaimed their slider after two years off.” To make themselves look like genius’s
You have to be freakin’ kidding me at this point.
Scott Harris clearly was looking for the best possible draft pick this season. The team was doing okay until the Greene and E -Rod injuries. Harris has no interest in trying to acquire legit players to compensate for the injuries to compete in a bad division. But rather let’s just get a better pick. That must be tough to take for guys on the team who still want to go compete for winning the division and put their hearts out every day.
The division sucks. You have to at least try?
I’m not saying trade a bag of balls for Mike Trout, but at least make an effort to improve.
Is he related to Anthony Rizzo? I went to HS with Anthony Rizzo.. don’t remember a younger brother or cousin … then again Anthony was a freshmen when I was a senior lol
If the Tigers would’ve thrown in Baez, the Marlins would’ve added Avi Gacia.
Avisail Garcia will never be welcome back in Detroit.