Anthony Rizzo reflects on lessons from Jackson Holliday's father for sluggers

Throughout his career, New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo has always sought out ways to improve his game, often picking the brains of some of baseball’s best hitters. One of those players was Jackson Holliday's father. Matt Holliday was a seven-time All-Star and one of the most consistent sluggers of his era.

During the early stages of his career, Rizzo struggled on pitches coming in on the inner side of the plate. He tried different approaches and in the process talked to some greats of the time.

On Friday's episode of "The Mayor's Office with Sean Casey," the first baseman recalled a conversation with Holliday that helped shape his approach at the plate.

"Yeah, so you just talk to guys all the time," Rizzo said (40:52 onwards). "I remember talking to Matt Holliday during one of his many monster years. I asked him, ‘Dude, how are you so good at hitting that inside pitch?’ because I was struggling with it.

"And he said, ‘You know, I set my eyes here a little bit more,’ or something like that, and I was like, ‘Alright.’ You just pick up little things."

Anthony Rizzo recalls how he fine-tuned his game despite being bothered by inside pitches

Anthony Rizzo could have either continued to lament about why he was not able to get something on inside plate pitches or could not bother much.

He seems to have taken the advice of former Cincinnati Reds first baseman Mike Napoli, who asked him to hunt for the middle of the plate rather than rueing about his inability to hit inside pitches.

"One day, I was watching video with Mike Napoli in the backyard, and Nap was like, ‘Dude, why do you look in? They miss middle like 70-80% of the time.’ From that day on, I never looked inside against the Reds. I just hunted middle," Rizzo added.

Adding to his point, Rizzo said that while analytics can probably give a player a broader mindset, it's talking with greats of the game that eventually helps more from his perspective.