GOODYEAR, Ariz. – A top prospect who plays with a hell-bent, head-first, get-out-of-my-way, Katie-bar-the-door, if-my-uniform-is-clean-I-didn’t-work-hard-enough type of attitude like the one EvoShield Canes third baseman Joe Rizzo plays with is really easy to like.
What’s not to like about a kid who makes the most of his 5-foot-11, 215-pound frame and has ran a 6.96-second 60-yard dash, thrown the ball 90 mph across the infield and generates a powerful swing from the left-side of the plate. A kid who has risen to No. 39 in Perfect Game’s class of 2016 national prospect rankings and is ranked the No. 1 prospect at third base in all the land.
Back in mid-June, down there in rain-soaked Fort Myers, Fla., Rizzo wowed the hundreds of scouts in attendance – including those in the PG scouting department – with his high-energy style of play. He was named to the prestigious event’s exclusive Top Prospect List, prompting a PG scout to write:
“Rizzo really impressed with his all-around approach to the game and his offensive tools. He’s a ‘dirtbag’ type player with a strong left-handed swing that produced consistent, hard line-drive contact.”
“Dirtbag.” It’s a word that resonates with the kid from Oak Hill, Va., a top-end prospect that looks pretty blue-collar at this week’s 17u Perfect Game World Series with his wild shoulder-length hair and neatly trimmed beard.
“I’ve just always been like that,” Rizzo said Sunday afternoon from the Goodyear Ballpark Complex. “I was never the biggest guy growing up and I always had to grind out everything. Being called a ‘dirtbag’ is pretty cool, to be honest with you. That’s exactly what I think I am; that’s the attitude I have to have.”
This is the 13th Perfect Game event Rizzo has attended and 10 of those have been tournament events at which he was wearing a Canes uniform. He’s received all-tournament recognition at four PG WWBA events, including the 2013 and 2014 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship and the 2014 PG WWBA World Championship; he was 10-for-18 (.588) with a double, triple, five RBI and six runs scored at the World Championship in Jupiter, Fla.
Even with those experiences, he couldn’t wait to get out to the desert for the 17u PG World Series.
“I’ve been looking forward to this the entire year, as soon as it popped up on our schedule,” he said, adding that this is the first time he’s played away from the East Coast. “The weather is lot different, so I’ve had to adjust to that, but I’ve loved this event so far.”
Rizzo is here as part of an EvoShield Canes team that boasts a roster full of NCAA Division-I commits and probable early round selections in the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft. With his high national ranking and his commitment to the University of South Carolina, he a perfect fit in Canes president and head coach Jeff Petty’s prominent prospect puzzle.
“He’s just a solid player with really good makeup,” Petty said Sunday. “He’s definitely a guy that when he’s at the plate you feel confident that he’s going to go up there and make solid contact (and) he’s very confident in his abilities. He’s a mentally tough kid who really feels confident that he’s going to go up there and he’s going to succeed.”
This official EvoShield Canes roster for the 17u PG World Series lists players from 12 states, including six from North Carolina and four from California. The organization is based in Fredricksburg, Va., and Rizzo is one of three prospects from Old Dominion with a roster spot.
“It makes for a great atmosphere, grabbing guys from all the place,” Rizzo said. “It’s really cool meeting guys from all over the country and getting to know everyone.”
It’s is a transient group, to be sure, and when all those other players get to know Rizzo they are also meeting a player who is somewhat of anomaly. He’s been with the Canes for three years, and that makes Petty especially proud.
“It’s nice to see a grassroots guy who has been with us since the very beginning of his high school career and carries it all the way to the end, and can play at the highest level in our program,” he said. Petty added that he and his staff first saw Rizzo play as a freshman at Oakton High School in Vienna, Va., and recognized immediately a very advanced approach at the plate.
“Here was a ninth-grader playing varsity baseball, hitting in the middle of the order on a really good high school team,” Petty said. “We saw that (approach) early on and obviously he’s just carried it over. It’s nice to see that other people have noticed it, too.”
The Canes-Rizzo relationship has been mutually beneficial. Rizzo speaks of how much he’s enjoyed building relationships with all of the EvoShield Canes coaches and players, and how those relationships helped his game develop to its current elite status.
“I think I’ve definitely improved as a ballplayer because I knew I was going to have to push myself even more now that I’m with this team,” he said. “It’s such a high-level program I knew … I’d become a better ballplayer because of it.”
Rizzo is one of eight elite prospects on this Canes’ roster that accepted coveted invitations to perform at the 2015 Perfect Game All-American Classic at Petco Park in San Diego on Aug. 16.
Catcher Luke Berryhill (Canton, Ga.), shortstop Grant Bodison (Simpsonville, S.C.) and right-hander Joshua Lowe (Marietta, Ga.) will join Rizzo on the East Team. Left-hander Dion Henderson (Dearborn, Mich.), shortstop Nicholas Quintana (Las Vegas, Nev.), outfielder Blake Rutherford (Simi Valley, Calif.) and outfielder Avery Tuck (San Diego) are on the West Team roster.
“It’s actually pretty cool because four of us are going to be on the East and four of us are going to be on the West,” Rizzo said with a smile. “We’re going to be playing both with and against each other, so that’s pretty cool.”
The express lane Rizzo drove on to arrive in San Diego is a familiar one used by many of the other top guys, at least in the context of what he accomplished before being invited to the PG A-A Classic. His four all-tournament selections speak volumes, but he has also been very good at PG showcase events the last two summers.
He was included on the Top Prospect List at the 2014 PG Junior National Showcase and the 2015 PG Northeast Indoor Showcase in addition to the PG National Showcase. It was his performance at the National that convinced PG officials to invite him to the Classic.
“That was a lot of fun getting to know each other from over (at the National),” Rizzo said. “The event was just fantastic – it was very well-run and I thought all the players were just fantastic. I don’t really change my mindset for each and every tournament or showcase – I’ve got to kind of keep it the same. I’ve got keep a level head in order to be myself and play my best.”
Added Petty: “It was one of those things where you just had to get him in front of (Perfect Game scouts),” Petty said. “Like I said, it’s nice for other people to notice what we’ve seen all along.”
The Canes were part of one of the biggest surprises to come out of the first three days of play at the 17u PG World Series, and not in a good way for anyone involved with the program. They lost a 4-0 decision to the always tenacious Southern California Bombers Sunday afternoon to drop to 2-2 in pool-play and will miss the eight-team playoffs, which begin Monday.
Petty had PG All-Americans Rizzo, Rutherford, Bodison, Quintana and Tuck in the lineup, yet they could manage only two hits off of Bombers right-hander Jacob Castillo. Rizzo managed three singles in 11 at-bats in the four games, but wasn’t going to leave the desert too disappointed. He is a player – a “dirtbag”, if you will – who will show up for the Canes’ two consolation games Monday and go all-out until the last out.
“Just the experience of being able to come out here to Arizona and play on (major league spring training fields) is pretty much what I was looking forward to the most,” he said. “I knew we were going to have a good program and we would be able to compete but I was mostly looking forward to the experience.”