Phillies first base prospect Matt Rizzotti turned a lot of heads this year, as he shined at multiple levels, earning two promotions on his way up to Triple A Lehigh Valley. In 125 combined games at High-A level Clearwater, Double A Reading and Lehigh, Rizzotti posted an impressive .343 batting average and slammed 17 homers while driving in 76 runs. Rizzotti then spent time at instructional ball in Florida until the Arizona Fall League began, where he continued his outstanding 2010 with a .333 average in 19 games for the Mesa Solar Sox.
When I spoke with Rizzotti recently, he had plenty to say about all the accolades he had received this season, including being named to Eastern League All-star team and being honored as Phillies minor league player of the month for May. However, there was one event from his remarkable 2010 that stood out to Rizzotti as premiere aspect. Faced with the pressure of being the Reading cleanup batter, Rizzotti had the weight of thousands of baseball fans’ hunger on his shoulders, on a nightly basis. The R-Phils’ Arby’s RBI Guy has much to answer for, as Rizzotti shares in this exclusive interview.
Check out the media players below to hear Rizz discuss his season highlight as well as the actual product of his own imagination.
____________________________________________________
Jay Floyd is PhilliesNation’s minor league contributor. You can read more from Jay on his site, PhoulBallz.com.
Latest Comments