Jazz in the Park
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (NYY): 1-4, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, SB.
Summer is the season for enjoying music outside, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave fans something worth watching last night. The Yankees faced off against Parker Messick and the Guardians last night, winning 8-4 in part thanks to a 1-4, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, SB line from Chisholm. Jazz came to the plate in the 2nd inning with two runners in scoring position and laced an elevated fastball 107.4 MPH off the wall in right field. Angel Martínez slipped as he was about to throw the ball back into the infield, allowing Jazz to beat the relay to third easily. Chisholm walked in the 6th inning and scored, then beat out a double play in the 7th inning for an RBI forceout. He stole third in that inning, but was stranded there later.
Jazz hasn’t quite lived up to his 50-50 prediction in spring training so far. The Yankees’ second baseman has 9 homers and 17 steals through 65 games and a .232/.309/.408 line, which is roughly league average. It’s been a rollercoaster season for Jazz. After slumping to a .611 OPS through April, he rebounded to a .281/.352/.448 line in May. June has seen a poor batting average, but a spike in his slugging to .571 over the past 10 days has helped maintain a 123 wRC+.
Chisholm has a couple of causes for concern under the hood this season. His bat speed is down a full tick, while his swing is also marginally longer. Longer swing length also tends to increase measured bat speed, so this isn’t an artifact of how Statcast measures things. It’s not an issue of him warming up in the early season, either. His bat speed has been consistent all year, declining 0.1 MPH since May 1st. While he still features above-average swing speeds, he’s hitting the ball less consistently hard this year. Despite maintaining roughly the same launch angle year over year, Jazz has cut his barrel rate nearly in half, from 15% to 8.1%. He’s also been less aggressive in the zone, swinging at 6.5 percentage points fewer strikes, while also chasing 2 percentage points more. You’re still going to be happy with the accumulated counting stats; he’s on a 25-35 pace in a good lineup. The batting average doesn’t look like it’s coming back to even his modest previous levels, though.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Wednesday…
Matt Chapman (SFG): 4-5, 2B, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI.
It’s probably unfair to blame the Nationals’ pitching staff for Chapman’s resurgence, but he did enjoy his time last night. Chapman had 5 hard-hit balls last night, with his sole out being a 98.5 MPH forceout in the 3rd. The Giants needed every bit of it, as they scraped an 11-10 win against the Nationals in San Francisco. Chapman has been on fire in June after a power outage to start the season. He’s hitting .469/.548/1.000 with 5 homers since the calendar has flipped.
Bryce Eldridge (SFG): 1-4, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB.
Eldridge won the game for the Giants in an incredibly improbable fashion. Entering the bottom of the 8th, the Giants trailed 9-1, and Eldridge was part of the offensive futility. He’d had two softly hit outs and a strikeout against Foster Griffin, then walked and scored against Paxton Schultz as part of a 5-run 8th inning. After Gus Varland gave up two doubles and a walk to start the 9th, the Nationals brought in Mitchell Parker to face Jung Hoo Lee. Lee singled to load the bases, bringing up Eldridge. Eldridge turned on an inside slider from the Nationals’ lefty and got just enough to muscle it over the wall for a walk-off grand slam.
Tyler Callihan (PIT): 2-2, 2 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB.
Callihan led the Pirates to a surprisingly high-scoring victory in the Shohei Ohtani vs Jared Jones matchup, 9-8. Facing the superhuman Ohtani in his 11th career MLB game, Callihan drew a walk in the second inning and crushed a 427-foot no-doubter in the 4th. He took some time admiring his work at the plate, which you have to respect given the matchup. Callihan drew a second walk off Ohtani in the 7th, and came around to score on a Brandon Lowe double. To cap off his night, Callihan sent an 89 MPH Kyle Hurt changeup to right field for his second homer of the night (and second of his career).
Caleb Durbin (BOS): 3-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Durbin’s summer resurgence continues with two solo homers in a loss to the Rays. Durbin and Masataka Yoshida were the only two Red Sox who could touch Drew Rasmussen yesterday, but the Rays’ bullpen was another story. Durbin hit two no-doubt homers to left at 101.2 and 107.7 MPH against Rays’ relievers, although the comeback attempt came up short. Durbin’s had a rough season, with monthly OPSes of .524 and .540 in April and May. June has been a different story, with last night’s game raising his monthly line to .333/.357/.630.
Byron Buxton (MIN): 2-4, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB, SB.
Buxton and the Twins continued a season of disappointment for Framber Valdez. Buxton walked in the first before a Brooks Lee double play ended the inning. Buxton reached again on a fielder’s choice in the 3rd inning, then took second before being stranded. He hit a mammoth three-run homer to left-center off a Valdez changeup in the 5th inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving the Twins a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game.
Jake Burger (TEX): 2-2, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.
Burger came on as a pinch-hitter for the DHing Joc Pederson after Seth Lugo left the game in the 4th inning. Burger took advantage of the opportunities. He drew a walk in the 5th, then clubbed a solo homer in the 7th off a Matt Strahm slider that was WAY up and out of the zone. After the game went to extra innings, Burger loaded the bases with a single that paved the way for an RBI walk to give the Rangers an insurance run.
Jac Caglianone (KCR): 4-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI.
Don’t look now, but JAC is up to a .275/.348/.456 line, good for a 123 wRC+. The massive strikeout rate is still there, but it’s moving in the right direction. He struck out a third of the time in April, 28.1% of the time in May, and just 18.6% of the time thus far in June. This one wasn’t quite the 2 homer game of the day before, but Caglianone had three line drives and only one grounder. The double was smoked at 106.1 MPH off same-handed MacKenzie Gore as well.
Mike Trout (LAA): 1-3, HR, R, RBI, BB, SB.
We got a little vintage Trout last night. The Millville Meteor posted a combo meal and intimidated the Astros into intentionally walking him in the 8th inning of a tie game. Trout also stole second and was stranded, which is also a classic Angels/Trout outcome. Trout’s up to 15 homers and 6 steals this season. Those six steals are tied for his largest seasonal output since 2019. Statcast says he’s been exceptionally unlucky in both average and slugging, so hopefully we get some more reminders of Peak Trout in the near future.
Fernando Tatis Jr. (SDP): 2-5, HR, R, 2 RBI.
The Padres snuck past the Reds 5-4 yesterday thanks to a Tatis walk-off homer, just his second of the year. He smoked everything he hit, with his two outs on balls in play at 97.3 and 98.9 MPH. His homer was sent out to left at 106.3 mph, a frozen rope that just barely cleared the wall. Tatis added an RBI single in the 5th inning, shooting a sinker to right at 113.4 MPH on the ground. Tatis still has a ridiculous hard-hit rate, but everything is on the ground and to the opposite field. If he’s going to recover his power, he needs more than his current 9.1% pulled air rate.
Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Blue Sky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)
