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The issue hasn’t been isolated just to Trent Grisham.
But with the Yankees lineup mostly sputtering throughout their ALDS series and even the wild-card series, their clutch hitter from the regular season has been anything but that.
Grisham will enter a win-or-stay-home Game 3 hitting 3-for-20 in the 2025 playoffs with eight strikeouts.
He also is hitting .165 with 36 strikeouts a .577 OPS through 24 career postseason games.
But Boone defended his center fielder Monday — calling it the “nature of the playoffs” and saying it’s a small sample size.
“I trust Trent Grisham and his at-bat quality,” Boone said. “It’s just a few games, and we’ve had some tough matchups in there where he’s faced a couple of tough lefties.”
Boone referenced Grisham’s wild-card series with the Padres against the Mets in 2022 as a glimpse of how he can perform on this stage.
Grisham hit .500 that series and ended up with three homers that postseason, but once the NLCS arrived, he didn’t collect a hit — and has gone 3-for-39 (.077) with 17 strikeouts in 10 postseason games since that Phillies series began.
Grisham turned 2025 into a career year with the Yankees, collecting personal bests in homers (34), OPS (.811), RBIs (74) and walks (82).
He remained a staple atop their lineup for most of the year after struggling to find consistent playing time as the fourth outfielder in 2024, and Grisham — nicknamed “Big Sleep” by the Yankees — delivered in plenty of key spots and moments, including a grand slam against the Astros in September and a ninth-inning grand slam against the Braves in July.
But he struck out four times in Game 1 of the wild-card series and three times in Game 2 of the ALDS, with both matchups featuring a dazzling lefty and righty — Garrett Crochet for the Red Sox and Trey Yesavage for the Blue Jays, respectively — for the bulk of the innings.
His lone extra-base hit occurred in the seventh inning of Game 2 against Boston.
With the Yankees’ season on the brink, though, and with Grisham a looming free agent general manager Brian Cashman will need to make a decision on this offseason, Boone’s belief in his center fielder hasn’t wavered.
“He’s going to not get overwhelmed by a situation,” Boone said. “He’s going to throw a good at-bat on you. He’s going to have the ability every time he walks up there to get on base and the threat of leaving the ballpark.”
