The New York Yankees have been waiting to see the Trent Grisham they signed to a $22-plus-million contract this season.
But Grisham may be on the verge of breaking out.
The embattled center fielder went 3 for 5 with two doubles while batting out of the leadoff spot once again in the Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
Grisham, who missed Thursday’s 2-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays after sustaining a knee injury in New York’s loss Wednesday to Toronto, is now 5 for his past 9 with three doubles and two runs scored over the three games.
Even after Grisham’s recent hot spell, he is still slashing just .188/.313/.369 with only six homers — he hit 34 last year — in 50 games.
Trent Grisham is Heating up
The Yankees’ offense has been hot and cold since Giancarlo Stanton landed on the injured list with a calf strain last month.
Aaron Judge has been seeing fewer pitches to hit, which is why he is 10 for 56 with a .571 OPS and only one home run over the Yankees’ past 15 games. Ben Rice’s OPS is just .594 over the Yankees’ past seven games, in which they are 2-5.
So New York needs more offensive production, and Grisham is the guy who can put it up, especially while batting out of the leadoff spot.
Rice had previously been hitting first, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone opted to put Grisham back in that spot, where he played 88 games a season ago, after the day off while nursing a knee injury he sustained while legging out a double Wednesday. Boone had Grisham test the knee Friday, and he passed the tests.
“Good enough to go,” Boone said before Friday’s game. “He ended up having a pretty good day yesterday with it. He had some improvements, felt good about the imaging. When I talked to him, he felt like he felt better already. Came in and went through some things, so we’re a go.”
Aaron Boone Feels the Yankees are Close to Breaking Through Offensively
The Yankees’ pitching has been elite this season, but they are now 5.5 games behind the white-hot Rays, who have won 22 of 26 and are 16-3 in May while the Yankees have dropped 11 of 16.
The Yankees are averaging only 3.07 runs per game over their past 14, where they are just 4-10, but Boone thinks the Yankees’ offense showed signs of breaking out Friday night.
They had 11 hits, keyed by Grisham’s team-leading three and Austin Wells‘ solo homer that put the Yankees on top. But the Yankees were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position, and Grisham was cut down at the plate on Rice’s third-inning single.
“Hopefully, with what we’re going through you hate losing a game,” Boone said. “But the silver lining is that I thought that guys had good at-bats tonight and were on stuff. We need to carry that forward and have the ability to carry that through.”
The Yankees now need to start getting the big hit, such as like the Rays have gotten while rallying in the eighth inning in consecutive games. Tampa Bay now has five wins when trailing after seven innings, and the Yankees have dropped five games when leading after seven innings.
“Their starting pitching is really good, and then they have three really linchpin hitters and a lot of complementary speed pieces that do a lot of different things and put pressure on you,” Boone said. “It just kind of hasn’t bounced our way against them, but obviously we’ve got to find a way to beat that club.”
Yankees Outfielder Breaks Out Offensively Despite Loss to Rays