Yankees’ Trent Grisham showing signs of life after extended slump: ‘We need to keep seeing it’

Taped to the glass divider of Ryan McMahon’s locker, a drawing of Trent Grisham stares at the Yankees’ clubhouse. The piece of art, gifted by a fan to Grisham and then claimed by McMahon as his own, is in the style of a police sketch. That’s fitting, as Grisham’s recent stretch of poor production would have justified hanging “Missing Person” posters with his face plastered on them around the Bronx. But Grisham seems to have found his swing over the last few days, the latest evidence coming in Wednesday’s 10-5 win over the Mariners. Grisham went 3-for-5 in the victory, crushing a solo home run in the fifth inning, lining a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh, and adding a two-run blast in the eighth. The performance left Grisham 8-for-17 with four doubles, three home runs, and seven RBI over his last four games. “I feel good,” Grisham, always short and to the point, said Wednesday. Prior to Saturday, Grisham hit .160 with a .542 OPS, four homers and eight RBI over his first 30 games back from a hamstring strain. The stretch had fans questioning why he continued to frequently occupy the leadoff spot, even as his Squared-Up% and Chase%, among other underlying metrics, remained strong. Asked recently about Grisham’s struggles, Aaron Boone said that the center fielder’s “superpower” has always been controlling the strike zone with extreme selectivity. Throughout his scuffles, however, Boone felt Grisham had gotten more aggressive inside the strike zone. Even though Grisham still wasn’t chasing out of the zone, that increased aggression was resulting in poor contact. On Wednesday, however, Boone was more than happy with Grisham’s recent at-bats. “Hit the ball in the seats and in the gap. I’ll sign up for that,” the manager said. “So he looks like he’s in a good place. I feel like he’s seeing the ball well. He’s so good at zoning his pitch. If he does that, he’s gonna start getting on base a lot and make ’em pay for some mistakes.” The Yankees are counting on that, as their lineup is still missing Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Wednesday was the first time since July 9 that they’ve scored double-digits, and they’ve owned one of the worst offenses in baseball since Judge, sidelined by a fractured rib, last played on May 31. They need more from Grisham, who is hitting .222 with a .732 OPS, 15 home runs and 50 RBI overall this season after accepting the qualifying offer for just over $22 million this past winter. “Grish is mentally really strong and just really disciplined to his work and his plan and all that,” Boone said. “So I don’t think he gets swung emotionally very much by highs and lows. The reality is, he’s putting together a lot of good at-bats right now for us, and we know that that’s what he’s capable of. “It’s great to see, and we need to keep seeing it.” The Yankees could also use better defense from Grisham, who has regressed in center as speedy rookie Spencer Jones, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI on Wednesday, has settled into the majors. A two-time Gold Glover, Grisham has -5 Defensive Runs Saved and -4 Outs Above Average this season. Baseball’s slowest center fielder, his lack of burst was on display in the second inning on Wednesday when he didn’t get after a pop-up that fell between him and shortstop George Lombard Jr. The ball made it far enough into center field that it was clearly Grisham’s ball, but Lombard ended up the closest one to it. Asked if he got a bad read on the play, Grisham was succinct once again. “Yeah,” he said. “It felt like the ball was up there long enough that a play could have been made if everyone got the right jump on it,” Boone added, noting that he needed to watch the play again. Fortunately for Grisham, he more than made up for the blunder with his bat on Wednesday.