Jazz Chisholm Jr. wore a wide smile throughout his first postgame interview as an active player for the New York Yankees in over a month and regaled a captive audience with various about hitting homers in his dreams and even referencing something Reggie Jackson told a coach about hitting a homer into the short porch at Yankee Stadium.
“My story is that I’ve hit 1,000 home runs in my dreams, so I had to know that one was going,” Chisholm said after Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
He said that after quipping about going 2-for-3 instead of a perfect night at the plate that also included a single to end an early no-hit bid.
“Honestly, I pictured going three-for-three,” Chisholm said with a sly grin. “But I’ll take a two-for-three. This is how I wanted to start my comeback.”
He wore those expressions after homering as a third baseman, something the Yankees did not necessarily envision when they convened for spring training in February, roughly four months after their frustrating World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Chisholm played 29 games at second base before injuring his oblique in Baltimore. Along the way, circumstances popped up that sent him back to third base, a position he never appeared at until his 45-game stint following his trade from the Miami Marlins last July.
He was pressed into playing a new position with a new team because Gleyber Torres was entrenched at second base. Even while Torres was producing somewhat respectable numbers, it was apparent the Yankees were not going to try to retain him in free agency.
When Torres inked a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers in late-December, second base was Chisholm’s. At that point DJ LeMahieu was still recovering from his latest injury and Oswaldo Cabrera was handling third base adequately after making five errors in April.
The first sign something might change was LeMahieu getting time at second base during his rehab assignment. The second was an unfortunate circumstance when Cabrera broke his ankle scoring a run in the ninth inning of an 11-5 win on May 11 at Seattle.
Cabrera’s injury seemed to send the chain reaction of landing Chisholm back at third. As he headed out on a rehab assignment manager Aaron Boone instructed him he would be a third baseman and Chisholm went along no questions asked.
“I really thought I was done at third base,” Chisholm said while smiling throughout the line of questioning “I’m not going to lie to you. I didn’t think I was going to see it. I thought I left my career over there with a good stamp, you know? But I guess we’re back again. We got to shine again. We can’t let that reputation go down at third base.”
Chisholm’s reaction is about as team-first as it gets but also contrast some of the negative about things that were mentioned about him with the Marlins, whom he debuted with in the 2020 season. The Yankees certainly did their vetting on him and obviously heard different and would certainly be pleased with how Chisholm handled being informed he was a third baseman for the second time in less than a year.
“I just want to win,” Chisholm said. “I want a ring. All I think about is being a team guy. I want to help my team win and this is my favorite organization I’ve ever been a part of.”
It also is a contrast to the struggles the Red Sox seemed to encounter with nudging Rafael Devers off third base. They nudged him to designated hitter after signing Alex Bregman to play third base and they tried to convince him about first base when Triston Casas was lost for the season last month.
It also is a contrast to the communication aspect of things. The Yankees easily communicated their needs to Chisholm while the Red Sox struggled to get their message across to Devers.
As for the Yankees, the message is crystal clear, they are glad Chisholm’s smooth play is back whether it involves wearing a second baseman’s glove or a third baseman’s mitt.
“He’s just so smooth and has such a great arm,” Chisholm said. “You can play him wherever you want.”
Read the full article here
