NEW YORK - TJ Rumfield didn’t sound like a player surprised by his own rise.
The Rockies first baseman, traded away by the Yankees in late January, said Tuesday that he always believed this kind of season was in him. That confidence now comes with real production: a rookie year that has him in the mix for the National League Rookie of the Year Award and, at the very least, raising questions about whether New York gave up too soon.
“Absolutely,” Rumfield said before facing the Yankees for the first time at Yankee Stadium.
“I think as a player, you’re just waiting for your time in the minor leagues and you can perform the best you can and to your abilities and it might just not be the right moment or the right time or whatever it is. It’s just nice to have an opportunity and to be able to prove that, ‘Hey, I can do this at this level, too.’”
The numbers back him up. Through 139 games, the 26-year-old left-handed hitter has posted a .299 average with 15 home runs, 67 RBIs and an .850 OPS. His 125 wRC+ ranks 11th among qualified first basemen, and he entered Tuesday fourth among National League position-player rookies in fWAR at 2.5.
Among NL rookies, Rumfield also stood out in a few key categories: he was first in average at .299, first in on-base percentage at .389, second in extra-base hits with 46 and second in RBIs with 67.
For the Yankees, the trade return has been much quieter. New York sent Rumfield to Colorado for reliever Angel Chivilli, and the move already looks like one the Yankees may revisit.
Chivilli is on the injured list at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, has flashed with his high-octane fastball and has made only 15 MLB appearances this season. The Yankees have not ruled out bringing him back before the regular season ends.
Rumfield said he was “really shocked” when the deal went down on Jan. 28. He had arrived early to big-league spring training and was working out at the Yankees’ player development complex in Tampa, Fla., hoping to get “the right eyes” on him before camp officially began.
That shock came after two strong minor league seasons. In 2024, he hit .285 with 16 home runs and an .825 OPS in 138 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The year before, he put up an .824 OPS in 122 games, mostly in Triple-A.
Even with that track record, he was stuck behind a crowded Yankees first-base picture. Ben Rice broke through last season with 26 home runs and has taken another step this year, blasting 36 home runs with a 144 OPS. New York also kept Paul Goldschmidt, whose defense and work against left-handers have mattered, and added Luis García Jr. at the trade deadline from the Washington Nationals.
Rumfield understood the logjam.
“It’s one of those things where you’re sitting there and you could have a good year,” Rumfield said, “but Ben Rice is spectacular. He’s a great player.
A great hitter. A great person.
We play the same position. It’s hard to be on the same roster together.”
What he’s done in Colorado doesn’t look like a random hot streak. He’s been one of the better disciplined hitters in the majors, ranking among the leaders in strikeout rate at 13.8 percent, walk rate at 11.5 percent and whiff rate at 19.3 percent. The raw exit velocity isn’t eye-popping - 84.3 mph, which sits in the bottom third percentile in MLB - but his expected weighted on-base average of .334 suggests there’s substance behind the results.
And it hasn’t all come at Coors Field. Entering Tuesday, Rumfield had an .807 OPS and a .391 on-base percentage in road games.
He also made it clear he hasn’t forgotten the people who helped him along the way in the Yankees organization. He credited player development leader Kevin Reese, former minor-league hitting coordinator Joe Migliaccio, now with the Miami Marlins, and current Yankees coaches Dan Fiorito, Ryan Hunt and Jake Hirst.
“They helped me so much in fielding, hitting, baseball (and) being a person,” Rumfield said. “Kind of the whole shebang.”
Tuesday marked his first trip to Yankee Stadium, and he was slated to hit third for Colorado. Rumfield said he wasn’t looking for payback.
“I want to perform every game, to be honest with you,” he said. “But to play in Yankee Stadium is special.”
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