Jazz Chisholm isn’t the answer to Yankees’ fans prayers

Over the weekend, the New York Yankees made a long-anticipated trade to boost their struggling offense. This came in the form of Jazz Chisholm Jr., the speedy face of the Marlins’ franchise that can bring occasional pop to the plate. With his repertoire, he makes a decent improvement on over half the Yankees’ lineup.

Chisholm can play second base, shortstop, and centerfield. But the Yankees seem willing to thrust him into third base, a position he’s never played before. That aside, the Yankees’ main offensive weakness has been the third base position. A combination of Oswaldo Cabrera, DJ LeMahieu, and Jon Berti (who was injured fairly quickly) have struggled to produce. Even though Chisholm does make a substantial improvement over the Yankees’ other third base options, will his skillset be enough to push the ailing Yankee offense past the finish line?

(For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, and join the discord to get the inside scoop as we near the July 30 MLB trade deadline.)

Addressing the Yankees’ key offensive problem

Since the decline of Anthony Volpe, the Yankees have had trouble finding a reliable leadoff hitter, something they desperately need. With the best power duo in baseball of Soto and Judge behind the leadoff man, this isn’t a spot in the lineup the Yankees’ can afford to waste.

However, Jazz Chisholm wasn’t meant to bat leadoff. The Yankees see him as more of a middle of the order kind of guy. But trading for someone other than a leadoff hitter isn't a bad thing if he can still score enough runs for the Yankees, and with Judge hitting ahead of him, he will likely get many opportunities. While his acquisition is a good thing for the Yankees, what does he bring to the table that can exponentially increase run production?

To start, Chisholm is slashing .250/.325/.413. The Yankees as a team are slashing .250/.333/.434. As a whole, the team slash line is mildly better than Chisholm’s. But it seems he wasn’t meant to create the radical lineup change Yankees’ fans want. He was meant to fill the third base position that has struggled to produce thus strengthening their least productive spot on the field. Chisholm's slash line is much better than his predecessor’s, Oswaldo Cabrera, who slashed .246/.292/.354 with 6 HR through 240 ABs.

Other than that, Chisholm’s power (with the short right porch) is another plus. Chisholm’s 14 HRs this year through 391 ABs would be fourth most on the team (lower than Stanton who has missed roughly half the season but still whacked plenty of home runs during the time he was playing). While the Yankees should have plenty of power with Stanton back, you can never have too much power. Still, even though his power is an improvement, Chisholm isn't exactly a heavyweight when it comes to hitting home runs. That said, Chisholm’s power won’t likely be enough to save the Yankees.

What the Yankees need most is someone who can turn their 14.33 runners left on base per game (16th in the MLB) into runs. The Yankees have the second highest on-base percentage in baseball. They can get runners aboard, but they struggle to get those runners home. If they are going to fix this, they need someone who can hit for a high average with a high on-base percentage to either score those runs or keep the line moving and be scored. Too many dead spots in the lineup have led to the Yankees’ wasting these opportunities. Currently, the Yankees only have two players hitting above .255. The .250 batting average the Yankees maintain (thanks to Judge and Soto) is 11th in the MLB.

The one skill that Chisholm brings to the Yankees that they don’t already have enough of is speed. Chisholm has stolen 23 bases in 31 attempts. Second most on the team is Anthony Volpe who is 18-5 in stolen base attempts. Beyond that, the Yankees aren’t really a base-stealing team.

Jazz Chisholm without a doubt improves the Yankee lineup. His combination of power and speed offer a much-needed upgrade over the Yankees’ other third basemen. But it’s going to take more than him if the Yankees are going to go far in October.