MESA, Ariz. — During early work one day in spring training last month, Cubs infielder David Bote looked up to see teammate Anthony Rizzo trying to get his attention.
“Hey, come here, ‘Boat,’ ” Rizzo said, sharing a minor difference he saw in Bote’s swing. “I noticed this. . . . Do you feel that?”
Bote listened.
“Yeah, wow, I do feel that,” he told Rizzo. “Thanks for pointing it out.”
This is Bote’s third big-league season. He doesn’t remember much of that kind of encounter from Rizzo before this spring.
“I definitely have seen in just the two years that I’ve been here tremendous growth in that area,” Bote said of Rizzo.