Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. boldly said during spring training he thought he could become the second member of the 50/50 club after Shohei Ohtani accomplished the feat in 2024.
Chisholm had his sights set on hitting 50 homers and swiping 50 bases.
“I just can’t help but get that gut feeling -- it’s going to be an amazing year,” Chisholm told reporters in February. “Especially with [Aaron] Judge pushing me ever since I’ve gotten here, I feel like I’ve matured a lot in the game, just from watching him and his at-bats every day, watching the way he goes about it.
“That’s how I’m trying to go about it every day, and I feel like I have been this offseason. So that’s why I feel like my year is going to be so magical, because I’m following that guy.”
It’s now mid-August and Chisholm has 17 homers and 31 steals. He’s also batting .216 with a .391 slugging percentage and a .687 OPS.
He’s not exactly in danger of cracking the 50/50 club.
With Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger all sidelined with injury but expected back in the next few weeks, the Yankees have struggled to score runs. They were shut out 1-0 by the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
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And nobody has exemplified their offensive struggles more than Chisholm Jr., who becomes a free agent following the season.
“If I knew, I would already have fixed the problem,” Chisholm told The Athletic. “Even when I think I’m getting going hitting, it’s still an out. I’m still hitting it right at someone. I can hit it 107 (mph) and still hit it right at someone.”
Chris Kirschner of The Athletic pointed out that Chisholm’s “92 wRC+ makes [him] one of the 20 worst qualified hitters across MLB.”
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“I feel like I have a 40 percent whiff rate on every pitch right now,” Chisholm said. “I don’t know why. I swing up. I swing down. I’ve tried to fix it a couple of different ways. When I fix it, it’s still unlucky.”
There have been rumblings that the Yankees might move Anthony Volpe to second base next season after Chisholm departs in free agency, but Chisholm says impending free agency is not impacting his performance this season.
“I don’t think free agency has weighed on me more than just me not playing well,” Chisholm said. “That’s all I want to do. It doesn’t matter if it was a free-agent year or my first year in the league. I still just want to play well and play to the best of my ability. I know that’s not happening.”
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