NEW YORK – Jazz Chisholm Jr. has The Seventy Percent Solution.
While most athletes talk about the urge to give 100% or even 110%, the New York Yankees infielder thinks his success since returning from the injured list has been caused by limiting intensity.
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“Just go at 70%. That’s what’s been working for me,” he said Friday night after his three-run, go-ahead homer in the first inning and four RBIs sparked the Yankees over the Boston Red Sox 9-6 in the opening meeting this year of the AL East rivals. “Play at 70%: defense, offense, running, everything. Stay healthy. You don’t overswing. You don't swing and miss as much, and you’re a great player at 70%.”
Chisholm is hitting .500 (8 for 16) with two homers, six RBIs and three steals in four games since returning Tuesday from a strained right oblique, an April 29 injury that caused him to miss 28 games.
“He's squaring balls up. He’s got so much talent and power, and he doesn’t have to go reach for it," manager Aaron Boone said. ”That kind of wiry thing he’s got inside him, he doesn’t have to work too hard to generate it. So nice and easy is always good for Jazz."
Chisholm raised his season average this week from .181 to .223.
“He's a game-changer,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “When you step out there in Yankee Stadium, the adrenaline is going to be flowing. It's really just about slowing everything down and just take a nice, easy approach.”
Solving the mindset issue was credited by Chisholm to assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler.
“Like my coach Six said, he said: `At 70% you're one of the best out there'. At 100%, I might be dog crap,” Chisholm explained, referring to Roessler by the coach's nickname.
Chisholm prepared for a rehab stint at Double-A Somerset last weekend by joining coaches to review video of his minor league days.
“I've really heard that, all my life, is that I need to tone down on the way I play, because it’s really over — it's electric, but you can be electric while being controlled at the same time," Chisholm said. "My 70% running is probably faster than a lot of guys in the league, too. So if at 70% I’m hitting balls 108, 109 (mph), playing great defense and out running and having stolen bases. I think that’s where I should stay at."
He also mentioned a NASCAR analogy.
“It’s super challenging for me because only thing I knew was like how to go fast,” Chisholm said. “Basically I was Ricky Bobby growing up.”
Chisholm had three hits, including an RBI single in the second, and stole two bases in three tries — the third was originally called safe but overturned in a video review. Anthony Volpe hit a two-run homer in the first off Walker Buehler, boosting the lead to 7-0.
“In his mind it might be 70%, but I think what everyone in the clubhouse loves and respects about him is that it looks like every night he’s playing with his hair on fire and over 100%,” Volpe said.
Following Oswaldo Cabrera's broken left ankle and the return of DJ LeMahieu from a calf strain, the Yankees moved Chisholm back to third base from second. He was a middle infielder for the Miami Marlins from 2020-22, was moved to center field from 2023-24, then inserted at third when the Yankees acquired him in a trade last July 27.
Chisholm is happy at any of the infield positions. He just doesn't want an outfield return.
“I’m comfortable anywhere where there’s dirt,” he said. “Once the ball is on the ground, I’m going to catch it. That’s all I worry about. In the air is a little shaky. It gets a little scary out there.”
Chisholm said Game 5 of last year's World Series is a constant reminder. The Yankees led 5-0 the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning and were eliminated with a 7-6 defeat.
“We not only want to win the division but we want to in every category. We want to be the best team in MLB,” he said. “That’s why we’re out here trying to win the World Series. We already went there last year and we thought we had it and we didn’t have it. So this year we’re going to make sure we have it.”
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