The Yankees are staring at a familiar problem, and it’s getting harder to ignore: Jazz Chisholm Jr. still hasn’t become the impact bat they were hoping for.
Chisholm entered this week hitting .216, stuck in a brutal August stretch and carrying a career-worst strikeout rate. New York never benched him, but the patience is wearing thin because the lineup around him has already taken enough hits.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger have all missed time, and since early July the offense has sat near the bottom of baseball. In that kind of environment, every wasted trip to the plate stands out.
That’s why Marco Luciano is suddenly worth a hard look.
Luciano is hitting .300 in the high minors, and he’s doing it while covering the same kinds of spots the Yankees need help with. The organization may not be saying much publicly, but the profile is obvious enough: a right-handed hitter with some pop, some versatility and enough momentum to make a move feel practical.
His journey to this point has been anything but smooth. Luciano signed with the San Francisco Giants for $2.6 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2018 and eventually climbed as high as No. 13 on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list.
Then came the whirlwind offseason that sent him through a string of transactions: cut loose by the Giants, claimed and then designated by the Pittsburgh Pirates, claimed and designated by the Baltimore Orioles, and finally claimed by the Yankees in January. New York removed him from the 40-man roster in February, and he cleared waivers to remain in the system.
Since then, he has made that detour look a lot less random.
Luciano opened the year at Double-A Somerset and tore through it, posting a slugging percentage above .700 in a brief stay before moving up to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. A short injured list stint in May slowed him down only briefly; he came back in June and kept producing. The bat has shown up everywhere he’s gone, and the contact quality has traveled with him.
Through Tuesday, Luciano was batting .300 with a .389 on-base percentage and a .937 OPS across the two levels. He also had 19 home runs, 53 RBIs, 69 runs scored and 97 hits in 323 at-bats. For a Yankees team that needs offense in the worst way, those are the kind of numbers that get attention fast.
The fit goes beyond the stat line. Luciano is a right-handed hitter, which matters on a roster that leans heavily left-handed.
He has played shortstop, second base and the outfield, giving the Yankees options if they want to try him at Chisholm’s spot or somewhere else. And he won’t turn 25 until September, so there’s still time for the talent to keep moving forward.
Of course, the big-league résumé is still thin. Luciano hit just .217 with a .590 OPS in 115 at-bats over 41 games with the Giants across 2023 and 2024. That’s the reason he’s available as an option now, and it’s also why the Yankees can treat him as an upside play instead of a finished product.
That uncertainty hasn’t stopped the argument for a change from building. Chisholm still brings speed, defense and flashes of star power, and he remains the starter for now.
But the inconsistency has been real, the strikeouts have piled up, and the base-running miscues have only added to the frustration. The pitching staff has covered for the offense often enough already, but that kind of rescue act can’t last forever.
If the Yankees want a different look, Luciano gives them one. A platoon or a short audition would not cost much, and it might tell them something useful about both the stretch run and beyond. With Chisholm headed for free agency after the season, and Luciano forcing his way into the conversation with his bat, the Yankees may soon have to decide how long they’re willing to wait.
In Other News...
Michael Kay Calls Out Yankees Fans As Old-Timers Day Debate Grows
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Michael Kay added his voice to that debate this week, saying he was disappointed by the thinner turnout and pointing to the changing cast of former Yankees as part of the issue. The event does not carry quite the same weight without the legendary figures who once defined it, and the continued absence of Derek Jeter from recent editions only adds another layer to the concern. For a fan base that still treats tradition seriously, the question is whether Old-Timers Day can stay special without the names that once made it feel unmissable. [Read more 🡒]
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One wrinkle is that the Yankees are also looking at his versatility, with Volpe beginning to play second base in Triple-A as part of that evaluation. His bat still remains the biggest part of the equation if he is going to force his way back into the major league roster conversation, but the path he once seemed to have at shortstop is no longer clear with the team shuffling pieces around him. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Bullpen Search Could Lead To A Risky Late Waiver Add
The Yankees left the trade deadline without adding a reliever, a notable choice for a club that has leaned on its bullpen even while the groups ERA has been strong. Now, with the market thinned out and the season moving into the stretch run, the search for depth could shift to the waiver wire, where teams sometimes find a useful arm if they are willing to take on some risk.
One name drawing attention is a right-hander who has had a rough run this season but still carries traits that teams tend to chase late in the year. His recent numbers have been shaky, yet the pitch data suggests there is still some bat-missing ability in there, which is the sort of profile that can tempt a contender looking for a low-cost fix. For the Yankees, the question is whether that upside is enough to justify a claim when the margin for error keeps shrinking. [Read more 🡒]