The Yankees keep running into the same Trent Grisham issue, and Monday night in Anaheim made it harder to ignore.
Grisham’s defense in center field has become a real problem for New York, and his bat isn’t covering for it. In the Yankees’ 10-1 loss to the Angels, he helped turn a bad inning into a bigger one when a pickoff throw from Michael Fulmer at second base bounced off José Caballero’s glove and rolled into center.
Christian Moore was on third, and instead of getting the ball back into the infield quickly, Grisham lofted it to nobody. Moore scored.
Aaron Boone has spent the season backing Grisham’s work in center, and he has pointed to only a “handful of plays” as the reason the metrics look so ugly.
“I’m talking four, five, six maybe,” Boone said last week.
But the numbers are piling up. Grisham is either the worst or second-worst defensive center fielder in MLB this season depending on the metric, and he owns an MLB-worst minus-6 outs above average among all center fielders.
Statcast also says he is the slowest runner by sprint speed among regular center fielders, and he has been for 2025 as well. The Yankees have said a hamstring injury last season affected his speed, while Grisham has repeatedly said he feels fine physically.
That lack of range matters in center. There’s too much ground to cover in the gaps and too much space to get back toward the wall. When the speed isn’t there, the margin for error gets tiny.
Boone still hasn’t fully backed off his support.
“If you watch him play every day, I think he’s really good out there,” Boone said last week. “My expectation is that you trust him and feel like he’s going to be good moving forward. But there’s been a handful of plays that haven’t been made that probably lent to (the metrics).”
The offensive slump is making the defensive issues even louder. Grisham went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Monday and is now in a 2-for-37 slump. His wRC+ sits at 98, which means he’s been 2 percent below league-average at the plate this season.
“I feel like the last week’s been a little bit of a struggle going through it a little bit after several weeks of where the power was there and really controlling the zone,” Boone said on Monday.
Some bad luck on balls in play is part of the story, but it doesn’t explain everything. Grisham’s results on fastballs have fallen off sharply.
His xwOBA on fastballs dropped from .424 in 2025 to .364 this season, and his expected slugging percentage has fallen by more than 100 points. He hit 21 home runs off fastballs last season.
This year, he has 11 despite seeing a higher percentage of that pitch.
If Grisham isn’t going to provide damage in the middle or near the top of the lineup, the Yankees may have to start looking at other options over the final month.
Spencer Jones is one possible answer, though he has his own flaws in the field. He had another slow jump Monday, and that cost the Yankees a run in the fifth inning.
Still, his athleticism and speed can help him recover in ways Grisham can’t. Offensively, the rookie has given the Yankees something, with a 105 wRC+ and eight home runs.
One of those homers was the Yankees’ only run Monday. Boone said Jones’ development has been “really encouraging.”
The issue is roster fit. Boone said “it’s possible” Aaron Judge is back in the Yankees’ lineup by the start of the next homestand, which begins next Tuesday. Judge recently said he expects to be the team’s starting right fielder, and that’s where Jones has spent most of his time.
If Judge returns there, Jones may be the odd man out. The simplest move would be to option him to Triple A.
Keeping him would force the Yankees to consider other cuts, such as Amed Rosario, who is not a good defender and has struggled against left-handed pitching, which is the role he was signed to fill in free agency. If Jones is sent down, Heliot Ramos would be the only other backup outfielder on the roster, and he is not a quality defender either.
There is also the possibility of shifting Cody Bellinger from left field if the Yankees decide Grisham is no longer the answer in center. That would solve one problem and create another, weakening two outfield spots instead of one.
For now, the Yankees are stuck with a center field dilemma that keeps getting louder. And unless Grisham starts hitting again, they may have to get creative.
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