The Yankees keep waiting for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to take off.
With 44 games left in the season, it has yet to actually happen.
At a time when the Yankees are going through a brutal stretch offensively — including Sunday’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Braves — without Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton, they could sorely use someone to spark the lineup. Chisholm has the skill set to make that happen, except he has not been able to put things together consistently all season, finishing Sunday batting .216 with a .691 OPS through 109 games.
“I think all year, just struggling to really get dialed in,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s never had that real hot streak, which he’s certainly capable of. We’ve seen over the last couple years, where it’s two, three, four weeks of impactful damage, speed, getting on, things like that.”
Chisholm went 1-for-3 with a walk Sunday (while also committing a throwing error on a chopper-turned-infield-single that he could not cleanly grip out of his glove).
Though he is certainly not alone in his offensive struggles, the pending free agent is as capable as anyone on the Yankees of single-handedly changing a game.
He just has not been able to do it often enough.
“I’ve been feeling OK,” Chisholm said. “Hit it hard, get out. Sometimes not even making contact. But every day, going out there and grinding, trying to make things happen for the team.”
After throwing 48 pitches in 2 ²/₃ innings Saturday night in his first rehab start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Carlos Rodón (left elbow inflammation) will likely make another this week before returning to the Yankees.
“I watched his outing this morning, thought he looked pretty good, thought he threw the ball pretty well,” Boone said. “So I would assume we’ll probably have another one for him at least.”
Cody Bellinger, now two weeks removed from suffering a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, has been running and hitting, though it is unclear if he could beat the four-to-six week timeline he was given.
“It seems like he’s doing pretty well, but until we get to that finish line …” Boone said.
Yankees Merch Shop
New York Post receives revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and when you make a purchase.
Clarke Schmidt, who experienced forearm cramping during his live bullpen session Tuesday, has played catch but has yet to throw a bullpen session since then.
“I think we’re good, but we got to get to that point where he’s back on the mound, which hopefully is the next couple days,” Boone said.
Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) did some more running in the outfield Sunday at what appeared to be a pretty good intensity, but he still did not run the bases.
Anthony Volpe got his first start at second base at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night and handled all three ground balls hit to him cleanly. He was back at shortstop Sunday as he gets eased into the new position that could be how he gets back to the big leagues, whether that is this year or next.
Chris Sale, apparently still annoyed at the balk called on him Saturday that scored the go-ahead run, was ejected before first pitch Sunday.
