Overshadowed by his MVP teammate Aaron Judge‘s otherworldly opening to the 2025 season, New York Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham is off to a red-hot start this spring as well.
At 28 years old and coming off three straight seasons finishing under the Mendoza Line, Grisham wasn’t expected to make much of an impact this year in the Bronx. Furthermore, with Judge, Jasson Dominguez and newcomer Cody Bellinger as the projected starting outfield coming into the campaign and some combination of Ben Rice, Giancarlo Stanton and Paul Goldschmidt slated to fill the team’s designated hitter duties, Grisham appeared to be the odd man out for playing time.
Instead, helped by Stanton’s absence due to an elbow injury and the offseason departures of fellow outfielders Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto, Grisham has stepped up as the Yankees starting centerfielder and is having a career year thus far.
In an article posted on Friday morning, Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer listed “10 MLB Players Enjoying Huge Career Revivals in 2025” and Grisham was included among them.
“Trent Grisham was the other guy in the trade that brought Juan Soto to New York in December 2023. Now that he’s gone, it’s all on Grisham to keep the legacy of that trade alive for the Yankees. Before this season, this would have been something said with a little snicker. Though Grisham would pop the occasional homer, he hit just .191 with a .651 OPS across the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons,” Rymer wrote. “That he’s doing a fair bit better so far in 2025 is a self-evident story, but here’s the thing that’s flying under the radar: It’s legit.”
The MLB Lead Writer argued that most of the advanced statistics show that Grisham’s early success in 2025 is sustainable.
“Basically all of Grisham’s key performance indicators have taken a turn for the better, including a 7.0 percent swing for his strikeout rate and a 5.2 percent jump for his barrel rate. Indeed, he has already tied his total barrel output from last season,” Rymer wrote. “The down side is that the two-time Gold Glover is in the red for Outs Above Average in center field, but playing him there would be a win for the Yankees even if he wasn’t hitting. If nothing else, he’s helping keep Aaron Judge’s fresh in right field.”
Trent Grisham Having Career Year in 2025
The lefty was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 15th overall pick during the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft and made his big-league debut with the organization, playing 51 games in 2019. Grisham was traded to the San Diego Padres that offseason and spent the next four years in Southern California.
He won Gold Glove awards in 2020 and 2022 with the Friars and averaged 13.7 home runs, 47.7 RBI, 124 games and 464.5 plate appearances during his time with San Diego, but posted an anemic .214/.315/.381 slash line as well. Grisham was traded to New York along with Soto in December 2023 and finished last season with nine home runs, 31 RBI and a .190/.290/.385 triple slash across 76 games covering 209 plate appearances.
With more than 25% of the 2025 regular season complete, the Texas native has been among the Yankees best hitters.
Grisham is second to Judge in home runs with 12 (third in the American League), slugging percentage at .626 and OPS at .996, the latter two of which would be second in the AL if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. Since going through most of April as a part-time player, Grisham has now started 13 of the Yankees’ last 16 contests.
He’s on pace to shatter career highs across the board, as he’s added 22 RBI, 23 runs scored and most impressively, a much improved .283 batting average and .367 on-base percentage through 36 games (128 plate appearances).
As Rymer noted, Grisham isn’t the only Bronx Bomber off to a surprising start at the dish.
Former NL MVP Thriving in First Season With Yankees as Well
Goldschmidt was one of two former NL MVPs to join New York over the winter (along with Bellinger). While his seven All-Star nods, five Silver Slugger awards and four Gold Gloves have put “Goldy” on track for enshrinement into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he looked like a shell of his former self during his last two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Though Paul Goldschmidt did have a .810 OPS in 2023, it said a lot about his excellence before then that it was also his lowest since back in 2011. In any case, another step back followed for Goldschmidt in 2024. And this one seemed to truly spell the end for him as a star, as his .716 OPS was further undercut by a career-worst 0.27 walk-to-strikeout ratio,” Rymer wrote. “Then he ended up with the Yankees, who put a torpedo bat in his hands and must have said something like, ‘Go get ’em, kid.’”
The 37-year-old’s .346 batting average this year is fourth-best in the majors, while his .395 on-base percentage is tied for third in the AL.
According to Rymer, Goldschmidt’s batting average “isn’t built to last” but he’s still showing the foundation of a renaissance season.
“Goldschmidt’s walk rate is still down, but his strikeout rate is down a whopping 9.6 percent and he just can’t stop notching base hits. Indeed, he would be leading the American League in batting average were it not for teammate Aaron Judge,” he wrote. “Per his .398 batting average on balls in play and hits to both his exit velocity and hard-hit rate, Goldschmidt’s .346 average probably isn’t built to last. Like Javier Báez, however, his early success is as indicative of a new, more holistic approach to hitting as it is to an excess of good luck.”
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