NEW YORK (AP) — The Jazz Age began at Yankee Stadium on Friday with some cool threads.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. prepared for his first game in pinstripes wearing a T-shirt with “314” across his chest, a reference to how many feet the famous right field short porch is from home plate.
“This is my plan today. That’s why I put on this shirt,” Chisholm said ahead of the New York Yankees series opener against Toronto. “I think it’s going to be kind of fun. I don’t think I hit all my home runs to the right-field line, anyway. Most of my home runs are really right-center field to center field. So I’m just kidding with the 314 shirt, obviously.”
Chisholm went 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts in an 8-5 loss, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position.
Chisholm was acquired from Miami last Saturday for three minor leaguers. He singled while playing center field the next night in a win at Boston, then made his professional debut at third base the following night at Philadelphia. He homered twice against the Phillies on both Monday and Tuesday, joining Colorado’s Trevor Story in 2016 as the only players with four homers in his first three games with a team.
He entered his first home game in pinstripes hitting .368 (7 for 19) with eight RBIs, sparking the Yankees to a five-game winning streak and their best stretch since early June.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone when told of the shirt at first thought it was a reference to an area code — which covers St. Louis.
“Brings a lot of swag to the park every day and energy — kind of a light and a smile,” Boone said. “He’s hugged our room and they’ve hugged him back. … He plays with an energy and a confidence and a fearlessness that certainly has served him well so far.”
Chisholm said his little brother and stepfather were going to be at the stadium. When the Bleacher Creatures chanted his name during the first-inning Roll Call, he mimicked a step-back jump shot in the manner of a player he idolized: Kobe Bryant.
“I think they will show him the love tonight,” Boone predicted of the fans.
A native of the Bahamas, Chisholm hit .246 with 66 homers, 205 RBIs and 81 stolen in five seasons with the Marlins, becoming an All-Star in 2022. His given first name is Jasrado.
“I don’t know the history. My grandma made it up,” he said. “Me and dad have the same name, so it’s just my grandma made up a name and she just rolled with it.”
After making quick exits in two playoff appearances with the Marlins, Chisholm appears energized joining a Yankees team that expects to compete for a World Series title. And he’ll play before large crowds in the Bronx instead of Miami’s sparsely filled stands.
“It’s more something to play for, playing for a championship, playing to go get a ring and the other guys in the clubhouse believing that we can go get a ring, too,” he said. “It’s a lot more exciting to be out there with the guys that I’m out there with now like a Aaron Judge and a Juan Soto, guys that could push me to my absolute best. I feel like I haven’t had anybody — anyone that really pushed me to be my best, especially to compete with on the team.”
Chisholm was a middle infielder during his first three seasons in Miami, then was moved to center field for the 2023 season. New York needed him at third because of DJ LeMahieu was in a season-long slump.
“He’s kind of looked like he’s playing out in the backyard and just free and easy and letting his talent speak for itself,” said Boone, a former third baseman. “He’s made four or five outstanding plays really and made the routine play, as well. He’s still still got maybe some growing pains that go along with it. There’s no substitute for for experience over there.”
Just 26, Chisholm is eligible for arbitration in each of the next two winters and can’t become a free agent until after the 2026 World Series. He could become the Yankees’ regular second baseman next year if Gleyber Torres departs as a free agent.
“He plays the game with joy,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “Clearly there’s value with the control years. Certainly it gets baked into the cake as we are going through the evaluation process, but we were focused on ’24 more so than the out years.”
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