CLEARWATER, Fla. – The best offensive season of Trent Grisham’s career was also his worst defensively.
The end result was Grisham accepting the qualifying offer and returning to the Yankees with the chance to prove that not only was his offensive breakout not a fluke, but also that there is more in the tank defensively that he didn’t show consistently enough last season due to a lingering hamstring problem.
While Grisham’s biggest impact came with the bat last season, when he hit 34 home runs and took over day-to-day center field duties, he couldn’t match his track record as a two-time Gold Glover, most recently in 2022.
The 29-year-old isn’t usually one for looking at defensive stats – partly because he normally didn’t have to worry about them when they were strong – but he acknowledged on Sunday that he would like to know where he stands among the midfielders when there is enough data midway through the season.
“And I knew I was at the bottom of the list last year, so I took that a little personally in the offseason,” said Grisham, whose minus-11 defensive runs saved was the fourth-lowest among qualified midfielders. “I definitely wanted to get better and get back to how I was when I was younger.”
A large part of that is getting healthier, according to the Yankees.
Grisham came into camp last season with a hamstring injury, but was able to start the season on time. When he came back from the paternity list in late April, he said he had “a little ankle problem that I was dealing with.” Then on June 30 in Toronto, Grisham left a game early after his cleat caught on the turf while attempting a run on a sinking liner – “probably another one. [hamstring] tension,” he said, but he returned to the lineup a few days later and played through it.
“Maybe not quite 100 percent, but that wasn’t really the point,” Grisham said after making a diving catch and going 0-for-2 in a 5-3 win over the Phillies at BayCare Ballpark. “It was about wanting to play out there. I felt like I could do a pretty good job out there.”
The offense didn’t accomplish much as Grisham continued to deliver some big hits, but his defense took a step back, in part because he had trouble getting back.
“For me that was the most important factor last year, the [physical] limitations,” outfield coach Luis Rojas said. “I think a lot of balls, especially the back straight ones, really hurt him because he had to drop the step and then press really hard on those hamstrings. Those were the times where he was a little slower than in the past and he couldn’t make some baseballs, which crushed his stats.”
Grisham came into camp this year feeling healthy and, according to Rojas, said, “I’m going to show everyone I’m fast,” perhaps jokingly.
The Yankees don’t necessarily need Grisham to be as fast as he was earlier in his career — which helped him record 10 DRS in 2022 — but just enough to be able to play the level of defense he’s capable of, matching his strong offensive production.
“I didn’t go into this offseason overloading the defensive side of the ball,” Grisham said. “It was more mental and putting a chip on my shoulder to get that edge again. It’s more of a personal thing than anything.”
Of course, if Grisham is looking for chips, he can also find them in questions about whether he can actually repeat his breakout offensive season starting in 2025. The Yankees clearly believe he can do that — pointing to the strong underlying metrics that suggest it wasn’t a fluke — and that’s why they made him the $22.025 million qualifying offer.
Grisham said Sunday that he took the full 12 days allotted to him to decide whether to accept the offer, a decision he called “tough.” Had he turned that down, he might have been able to make more money overall in a multi-year deal, especially since he would have been the second-best midfielder on the free agent market behind teammate Cody Bellinger, but ultimately opted to return.
“At the end of the day, I want to win baseball games,” Grisham said. “I think that’s how you get the best out of yourself. I want to win… That was just my priority.”
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