You’d be hard-pressed, watching the New York Yankees these days, to see this bunch as a 66-52 team that has a comfortable lead in the American League wild-card standings and remains within striking distance of the surprising Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. That’s because the team has been without several star players for weeks now– Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton–and the veteran stars who should be picking up the slack are, instead, slacking off themselves. That means second baseman Jazz Chisholm and center fielder Trent Grisham.
In fact, longtime Yankees columnist Joel Sherman of the New York Post not only pins much of New York’s struggles, which date back to late June, on Chisholm and Grisham, he says the two have lost the right to starting spots in this lineup and should be benched.
The two, he wrote, have “cratered in what is now a seven-plus-week offensive malaise.”
Yankees Have Not Gotten Enough From Jazz Chisholm, Trent Grisham
Indeed, the overall numbers on both are unsightly. Chisholm, an All-Star in 2025, is batting .216 with a .295 on-base percentage and a .396 slugging mark. That is a career-worst season. Grisham, too, is showing that last year’s star turn as a slugger who hit 34 homers and boasted an .811 OPS was a fluke, well-timed as he headed into free agency. He’s hitting .213 with a .699 OPS, and 13 homers.
But the recent numbers have been worse, and they’ve come just as the Yankees lineup needs them to help make up for the team’s missing star bats. In his last 34 games, Chisholm is at .183 with a .599 OPS, while Grisham is at .162 with a .556 OPS in his last 31 games.
Yankees Better Off With Spencer Jones Over Trent Grisham
Sherman also pointed out that neither has played particularly well in the field, and if they’re not providing offense for the run-starved Yankees, they no longer have a place as regulars in the lineup even when Bellinger, Judge and Stanton return.
In a scathing column, he wrote: “Grisham and Chisholm have lost the right to be in the lineup every day. (Aaron) Boone has to feel that is the right choice, not the rote choice to start them. And if neither is going to hit enough, the Yankees should think about doubling down on run prevention. José Caballero is a better second baseman than this version of Chisholm. I think Spencer Jones looks sounder in center field than this version of Grisham — there certainly is a more lively body and better arm.
Jazz Chisholm: ‘It’s Super Frustrating’
Chisholm, for his part, has conceded that this has not been his year for the Yankees. Currently in a 2-for-26 slump, Chisholm told reporters that his four-pitch strikeout in the ninth inning of a 1-1 game against Atlanta on Sunday was especially tough: “It’s super frustrating, especially when it’s such a close game and going into extras. It just sucks.”
He has been criticized for lacking focus–Sherman tabbed Chisholm as, “distracted.” But Chisholm insisted he is working to come out of it.
“It’s super frustrating when you know your abilities and you go out there and you go in the cage and work every day, and it’s just not coming together in the game,” he said, via the Daily News. “You just gotta keep on going and push through it.”
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