When the Yankees acquired Jazz Chisholm at the trade deadline, his immediate success made him a fan favorite, and there were conversations about whether he just needed the spotlight to shine. Usually, those kinds of qualitative talking points emerge in the absence of a change in the quantitative data. Chisholm just got better at hitting the ball hard and there wasn’t much of a reason for it. Sure he was pulling the ball more, but again, there wasn’t much on the public side that could help us understand why he could do so without the ramifications of chasing or whiffing more.
Now, Statcast provides us with an answer for why he was so good upon arriving in the Bronx. James Rowson and Jazz Chisholm seemed to find an almost immediate solution to his issues, which had to do with his position in the batter’s box.
Baseball Savant now has public batter positioning data for fans to access for free, and while there are some fun nuggets here (such as being able to quantify what the eyes could see about Aaron Judge’s weirdly open stance in April), there’s also data that shows that the Yankees dramatically altered where Jazz Chisholm stood in the batter’s box.
Jazz Chisholm’s Small Change Led to a Big Second Half With the Yankees
When he arrived to the Bronx, Jazz Chisholm had a mediocre 100 wRC+ and just 13 home runs in 101 games played, with the Yankees hoping they could unlock the potential of a player who flashed star-caliber upside. The Yankees knew they had an uber-talented player on their hands who has had his career derailed by injuries and perhaps an environment that didn’t allow him to play the game he wanted to.
Reports of long-time veterans clashing with him alongside the Marlins’ perpetually terrible regular-season play made Chisholm look like a deteriorating athlete in a place that may not even want him anymore. The Marlins were able to strike a deal with the Yankees, but they would task him with learning a brand-new position on the fly while also inserting him immediately into a tight AL East race.
That placed a ton of pressure on Jazz Chisholm to perform in a new environment, but a familiar face would play a big role in him acclimating and making key adjustments quickly.
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Serving as the Marlins’ bench coach during the 2022 season, Jazz Chisholm would explode for a 134 wRC+ and smash 14 home runs in just 60 games, as he looked the star that Miami hoped he could be. Injuries robbed him of a chance to compete for some MVP votes in 2022, but some of the key elements of his breakout stemmed from a career-high in Pull% (50%) and walk rate (8.7%) while having his lowest K% to date (27.4%).
Pulling the ball requires making earlier swing decisions, and earlier swing decisions require leaving yourself more vulnerable to chasing a pitch out of the zone or whiffing. When he came to the Bronx, Rowson and Chisholm seemed to immediately click on a strategy that would allow the high-flying infielder to take full advantage of the short right field porch without wildly flailing out of zone or becoming a strikeout machine again.
The Yankees would have Jazz Chisholm start deeper in the box, giving him some more time to identify what pitch he’s seeing before deciding on when to swing. The results were immediate and effective, with Chisholm launching 11 home runs in 46 games with a 132 wRC+. He increased his pull rate from 42.5% to 48.5%, but it was specifically the pull rates in the air that the Yankees successfully helped him make serious strides in.
With the Marlins, Jazz Chisholm had a below-average 14.3% Pull Air%, while with the Yankees he had a 21.2% Pull Air%, placing him only behind Aaron Judge for the team lead among qualified players. His contact rates remained mostly unchanged while chasing at a lower rate than he did in Miami, that’s what James Rowson and the Yankees’ staff were targeting, and it’s exactly what Jazz Chisholm was able to execute.
A slump in the postseason certainly hurt the overall numbers post-deadline, but the Yankees walked away from the 2024 season excited for what a full season of Jazz Chisholm could entail. One of the more important developments from Chisholm’s time in the Bronx was his improvement against LHP, as he had a .761 OPS against southpaws after being traded to the Yankees compared to a .682 OPS with the Marlins in those matchups.
I have some serious concerns about the Yankees’ ability to hit lefties, but if Chisholm is providing above-average numbers in these matchups, it makes Aaron Boone’s job a lot easier. The Yankees rolled out a lineup with Paul Goldschmidt leading off against Jesus Luzardo, which isn’t a bad plan, but it also had Anthony Volpe cleaning up, and yea that’s where any Yankees fan will justifiably cringe.
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This year there seems to be a greater emphasis placed on platooning than in recent years, a strategy that could either work well or result in people blaming analytics and calling for jobs again. Jazz Chisholm doesn’t have a platoon partner in place, and the Yankees desperately need him to continue the progress he made against LHP to overcome their lack of right-handed depth. He has a .500 OBP and .944 OPS against lefties this Spring Training, which definitely isn’t conclusive but is somewhat encouraging because those at-bats have looked good.
This is an important year for Jazz Chisholm, who can follow a 4.0 fWAR season with another strong year and re-establish himself as one of the better all-around players in the league. He’s one of the most talented players in the game, and the Yankees would love to see him put up those post-adjustment numbers for a full 162-game season.