The New York Yankees continue to find more reasons to make changes after the disappointing ALDS exit. Most MLB teams have analytics teams to help the players make changes, including the Yankees under General Manager Brian Cashman. Jazz Chisholm Jr was one of three players who reportedly refused to listen to these suggestions and ignore all analytics offered by the franchise.
The Athletic reported all three names who shut down any advice from the analytics team:
“One area the Yankees may want to explore is how adept their pitchers are at receiving and applying analytical information compared with their hitters. Boone believed the Yankees’ hitters had enough buy-in this season to receive data, but several players, including Chisholm, Grisham and McMahon, had little to no interest in that part of the game. Judge, too, isn’t inclined to dive deep into data and is more old-school in that way.”
Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon were the other two hitters with Chisholm who didn’t care for stat nerds giving them advice. All three players struggled during the season and were among the biggest problems all year. This report adds more negative momentum to each of their names as the Yankees ponder which players they are ready to move on from.
Jazz Chisholm & Trent Grisham Likely Already Gone
One popular belief is that the Yankees leaked this report to prepare fans for these three names being gone. Chisholm is a free agent and expected to get better offers from teams like the Los Angeles Angels or Detroit Tigers. New York doesn’t seem to have any interest in retaining him.
Grisham had a disastrous season and is the final visual fans remember striking out against the Tampa Bay Rays to end the season. Most pundits expect the Yankees to start Spencer Jones and let Grisham walk in free agency to find a new home.
McMahon was the biggest failure since he didn’t look like a major league hitter at various points of the season. The assumed defensive strengths of McMahon failed them via his errors in the playoffs. Anthony Volpe is fully expected to start in place of Chisholm or McMahon next season.
Aaron Judge Getting Blamed For Bad Yankees Habits
The report also named Aaron Judge with the other three hitters as Yankees who resisted analytics. Judge is arguably the best hitter in the entire sport to understand why he feels he doesn’t need the tips when healthy.
However, his role as the captain may require him to at least listen to the tips before deciding whether to use them. Other Yankees hitters following Judge’s lead in ignoring part of the franchise’s research can set a bad tone, as seen with these hitters in question.
Judge also butted heads with the Yankees over his playoff status when rehabbing from an injury and criticized the franchise for not making enough moves. It appears that Judge is starting to take an opposite approach to Cashman and manager Aaron Boone. The Yankees could have more issues than three bad hitters ignoring analytics from this.
Jazz Chisholm Jr & Two Other Yankees Refused Analytics Help