Jazz Chisholm Jr. has given the Yankees something they don’t get enough of elsewhere: a real edge on the bases.
His bat has had its swings and misses all season, but his running has been steady from the start and has only picked up as September opened. After a frustrating stretch that included an IL stint with a sprained thumb, Chisholm Jr. is back, and New York badly needs the chaos he creates once he gets on.
The most obvious part of the package is the speed. He has 41 steals.
But that only tells part of the story. According to Baseball Savant’s baserunning runs metric, Chisholm Jr. ranks among the game’s best overall baserunners, tied for third in the majors with six baserunning runs.
That number includes stolen bases, taking extra bases on hits and tag-ups, and the other little gains that change innings without always showing up in the box score.
What stands out is how efficient he’s been when he decides to press the issue. For a player who doesn’t always come across as the most calculated, Chisholm Jr. has actually been one of the more conservative runners among the league leaders when it comes to taking the extra base. He’s only tried to advance beyond the base he’s already on 32 times, but every single one of those attempts has worked.
That kind of sharp, aggressive running is a rarity on this Yankees roster.
Baserunning usually only gets noticed when it goes wrong, and when it goes wrong, it can be brutal. The source of that reminder came on Aug. 29, when Amed Rosario failed to capitalize on a misplay by Ceddanne Rafaela on a Heliot Ramos fly ball against the Red Sox, then got thrown out at home after misreading the play.
The rest of New York has not matched Chisholm Jr.’s standard. The Yankees had 137 stolen bases when he went on the injured list, sixth-most in the league, but they’ve also been caught 47 times, which is the second-most in baseball. They’re not always efficient, and that matters.
The gap shows up even more clearly in the extra-base department. As a team, the Yankees sit 21st with -3 baserunning runs.
Spencer Jones, Anthony Volpe, Jose Caballero, and Ben Rice are all at net zero. No one else on the roster has positive value on the bases, which leaves Chisholm Jr. standing alone as the one player consistently tilting the field with his legs.
And with the season tightening up, that matters more than ever. New York won half its fight for seeding, but it could not finish the push to catch the Rays for the AL East title. The Yankees still hold homefield over the Red Sox as they chase a deep October run.
Without Chisholm Jr. in the lineup, that job gets harder. And if he isn’t back to feeling like himself by the postseason, the Yankees may find out just how costly those baserunning gaps can be.
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