Jazz Chisholm Jr. is betting on a quick return from a right thumb sprain, but the Yankees may not be waiting with his old job when he gets back.
The second baseman jammed his right hand into the bag while sliding headfirst into second base Tuesday night, and the injury didn’t fully reveal itself until he bounced a throw to first in the ninth inning. An MRI later showed the sprain, sending Chisholm to the 10-day injured list with a cast covering the thumb and the outside of his hand. The Yankees also told him to stay away from baseball activities for seven to 10 days.
That timeline lands at the worst possible time for New York, with only two and a half weeks left in the regular season. Chisholm, though, is not treating it like a major setback. Before Thursday’s win over the Colorado Rockies, he said he expects to move faster than the medical estimate, pointing to previous injuries in which he beat the expected recovery window.
Aaron Boone isn’t pushing back on that confidence. The Yankees manager has seen Chisholm recover quickly before and acknowledged as much. But even if the thumb heals on schedule, the path back to second base is no longer simple.
Anthony Volpe made sure of that Thursday.
Starting at second base in Chisholm’s place, Volpe went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and delivered a seventh-inning grand slam that brought him a curtain call. It was the sort of night that changes conversations, the kind that makes a temporary fill-in look a lot more like a real answer.
Boone stopped short of declaring Volpe the everyday second baseman while Chisholm is out, saying the Yankees would treat the spot as a day-to-day decision between Volpe and utility man Jose Caballero. Still, the refusal to hand out a clear answer said plenty. Chisholm may be assuming his return means his role comes right back with him, but the Yankees are not operating that way.
That’s partly because Chisholm’s season hasn’t matched his expectations. He came in chasing a 50-50 year and instead has posted a .232 average and a .715 OPS.
He has picked things up over his last 29 games, hitting .295 with an .832 OPS, and he finishes with 19 home runs and 40 stolen bases. Even so, this has been the weakest season of his career, and he is doing it as an impending free agent.
The infield around him has also changed while he’s been out. When Volpe struggled at shortstop and was sent to Triple-A in early August, rookie George Lombard Jr. took over there and has locked down the position. That leaves second base as the opening Volpe is now trying to claim.
And Volpe has earned the look. In Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he hit 10 homers in 28 games, then learned second base and made just one error in 17 games there.
Boone has been vocal about the work Volpe has put in, saying, “As for Anthony, he’s done a great job down in Triple-A really just working on a lot of things,” Boone said. “Adding the position flexibility to his game, he’s done a really good job on the defensive side and has been swinging the bat incredibly well now for a while.”
Chisholm, for his part, is aiming for the Yankees’ final homestand, which begins Sept. 22 against the first-place Rays. He believes he’ll have the cast off within 10 days and wants a few games to get loose before October.
“It’s frustrating, but right now the goal is to win a World Series,” Chisholm said. “Right now, all I’m thinking about is getting healthy and being back ready for October, honestly.”
Boone didn’t dismiss that target either.
“He does have a history of being a fast healer,” Boone said. “There’s truth to that.
If you look at his injury history, he’s kind of beaten the timeline every time. But we’ll listen to the thumb, listen to his body and see how he recovers.”
The Yankees enter the weekend’s Subway Series at 84-62, three games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and 4 1/2 ahead of Boston for the top wild card. They’ve won eight of their last 11, and the roster around Chisholm looks deeper now, with Judge back, Garcia past 30 homers and Volpe suddenly producing.
That’s the twist here. Chisholm can control the rehab, but he can’t control what happens while he’s gone.
Volpe is hitting, Lombard has shortstop locked down, and Boone has stopped promising that second base belongs to anyone. Chisholm may beat the thumb timeline.
The harder part might be winning back the spot.
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