The Jazz Chisholm Jr. experiment at third base is over.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced the position switch for Chisholm from third to his natural second base ahead of New York’s key series against the Seattle Mariners, which starts Tuesday.
Chisholm has played third base exclusively since coming off the injured list last month but has been one of the worst infielders in the majors at third base this year.
But Chisholm’s bat has been one of New York’s best, since he ranks second on the team in OPS (.841) and has an on-base percentage of .406 over his past seven games.
Why Is Jazz Chisholm Moving To Second Base?
Despite his openness to playing third base for the betterment of the Yankees, Chisholm is clearly getting frustrated playing out of position.
So Boone announced on the Jomboy-brand “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast Tuesday that Chisholm would be moving back to second base full time.
“We’ll continue to work through it depending on all the moving parts that might happen,” Boone said. “But I think right now, I want to move [Chisholm] back [to second base].”
Chisholm’s numbers at third base are ghastly. He has just a .920 fielding percentage and is tied for eighth in the majors in errors at third base (6) even though he does not have enough games there to qualify for third-base stats — while ranking near the bottom of assists (18) and put outs (51).
Second base is Chisholm’s natural position, and he only began playing third base last season, after the Yankees acquired him from the Miami Marlins — since Gleyber Torres was New York’s primary second baseman.
With Torres now on the Detroit Tigers, Chisholm was slated to be the Yankees’ every-day second baseman. But after he returned from an oblique injury, sustained in late April, Chisholm expressed willingness to play third base again with Oswaldo Cabrera’s season-ending ankle injury and so D.J. LeMahieu could play second base every day.
Who Is The Yankees’ Third Baseman?
Boone called New York’s third-base situation “fluid,” with LeMahieu and prospect Oswald Peraza likely to split time at the hot corner.
Though LeMahieu is having a bounce-back season, and is signed at $15 million through next year, his lack of range and weak arm could be a liability at third base. Plus, his .673 OPS is not good enough to warrant an every day spot in the lineup.
So this should be Peraza’s opportunity, since he is an above-average defender despite sporting an unwieldy OPS+ of 37. In 36 games at third base, Peraza boasts a .973 fielding percentage, and he does have three home runs and 13 RBIs in 142 plate appearances — each of which exceeds LeMahieu’s total.
Ultimately, the Yankees’ solution at third base would come via a trade, ideally by Eugenio Suarez of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Suarez, whose contract expires after this year, is tied for the major-league lead in errors among third basemen (11). But he also is sixth in the majors in assists (143) among third basemen and more importantly ranks fourth in the majors in home runs (28) and tied for second in RBIs (74) — and his .881 OPS would be second on the team, ahead of even Chisholm.
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