The New York Yankees are moving their best defensive second baseman back to second base. Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has started his last 28 games at third base, is going back to second for Tuesday’s series opener with the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium. Manager Aaron Boone revealed the change to the team’s infield alignment during a weekly podcast appearance.
“He’s playing second tonight,” Boone said on Talkin’ Yanks. “I think (it will be a permanent move). We’ll continue to work through it. Again, depending on all the moving parts and things that could possibly happen, but I think right now I want to move him back over there.”
Chisholm started the season at second base and moved to third after missing May with an oblique strain. Oswaldo Cabrera, New York’s primary third baseman to start the season, suffered a season-ending ankle injury on May 12. DJ LeMahieu returned from a foot injury the next day and had been the primary second baseman while Chisholm played third.
Earlier this month Chisholm confirmed he worked out only at second base this past offseason and in spring training because the Yankees told him it would be his position. The decision to move him to third happened while he was on the injured list in May. Here’s what Chisholm told The Athletic:
“Everybody knows I’m a second baseman,” Chisholm said. “Of course, I want to play second base, but whatever it takes to help the team win. If that’s what the team chooses, that’s what I gotta do. I don’t write the lineups. You feel me?
“I’m playing every day, so it’s hard to be upset. Yes, I know I’m a second baseman. Yes, I know I’m better at second base, but at the end of the day, I still have to play third. I just have to deal with it.”
Chisholm played third base after joining the Yankees at last summer’s trade deadline. It was his first time playing the position at any level, and he made it work basically on pure athleticism. His inexperience showed on cutoffs, positioning, etc. This year Chisholm has plus-3 outs above average at second base and minus-3 at third base in roughly the same number of innings.
Furthermore, this past weekend Boone and Chisholm said he’s been nursing an achy right shoulder the last few weeks. Chisholm said it only bothers him on throws, not when he’s hitting, and the move back to second means a shorter throw and less effort (when the situation allows). All things considered, sliding Chisholm back to second is an obvious and frankly overdue move.
The Yankees have “no plans” to use LeMahieu, who’s played plenty of third base in the past but rates near the bottom of the league in arm strength, at the hot corner, and will instead lean on utility man Oswald Peraza, Boone told reporters. LeMahieu is now being viewed as “a bat off the bench.”
Chisholm, 27, was named to the All-Star Game this past weekend. He’s hitting .245/.341/.500 with 15 home runs and 10 steals in 59 games overall, including .308/.380/.589 with eight homers in 29 games since returning from the oblique injury. Chisholm chalked up his post-injury success to playing with a little less intensity.
