Rizzo rejoins Cubs after mournful trip to Florida high school

Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo rejoined his team on Monday for the first full-squad workout of spring training.

Rizzo left the team last week to support victims of the mass shooting at his former high school in Parkland, Fla.

Rizzo had been an early arrival at camp in Mesa, Ariz., before leaving Thursday for Parkland, one day after 17 people were shot to death by a former student.

Rizzo remains closely attached with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School since graduating in 2007. He makes his home in the area and recently donated $150,000 to pay for lights at the school's baseball field.

"They'll be in my heart every day. They'll be in my thoughts and prayers. I think about them every night I go to sleep," Rizzo told reporters Monday on how he will honor the victims.

He gave a heartfelt speech at a vigil for victims of the attack Thursday night.

"I grew up in Stoneman Douglas," Rizzo said. "I played on those fields. I went to those classes. I studied in those classrooms, the same ones we saw in all those videos yesterday for all the wrong reasons. ...

"I'm a baseball player, but I'm also an American. I'm a Floridian and a Parklander for life. While I don't have all the answers, I know something has to change before this is visited on another community and another community and another community."

Cubs manager Joe Maddon supported Rizzo's trip and immediately texted him after he spoke in Parkland.

"I wanted him to know I was never more proud of him," Maddon said.

--Field Level Media