Jazz Chisholm Jr. entering 2025 HR Derby is every Yankee hater's absolute nightmare

During the New York Yankees' series finale against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night, it was announced Jazz Chisholm Jr. would round out the 2025 Home Run Derby field as the final contestant in this year's event. Honestly ... pretty cool!

It's the first time a Yankee has participated in the Derby since 2017, when Aaron Judge captured the trophy in Miami (and Gary Sánchez was a participant). Talk about a throwback. That was nearly a decade ago.

But the news was immediately met with snide comments and dismissive trash talk from the know-nothings. The replies to MLB's tweet are just a sad, sad realization of a bleak world where everybody can express their uneducated opinion to a wide audience within seconds. In the sports world, it's even worse when it's an opinion that has to do with the Yankees. And it's even worse when that opinion goes after an outgoing personality. It's always the easiest target.

So how about a rebuttal? How about we turn this whole thing on its head? Look, we know New York Yankees fans hate the New York Yankees. It's the cycle of fandom. And we know we can be neurotic (yes, some of us are worrying about swing mechanics and injuries, it's just who we are).

It's very easy to say "bad things happen to me." A lot of people do it often. But ... what about good things? How about if those happened? How about if we embraced the mere possibility of them happening? How about ... Jazz Chisholm Jr. winning the 2025 HR Derby and dunking on all the haters (and then continuing his surge in the second half)?

Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. becomes final 2025 Home Run Derby contestant

Winning the Home Run Derby is no easy task, especially for players of Chisholm's caliber. He's viewed as more of an all-around threat with athleticism being his primary calling card. He's not exactly regarded as a fearsome power hitter. But that's exactly how Chisholm can make his HR Derby appearance a nightmare for Yankees haters.

Remember when players across the league voted Jazz the most overrated player in MLB? Ever since, he's slugged 32 homers in 144 games, registering a 5.3 fWAR (h/t Foolish Baseball). He's been a revelation, but it's gone a bit overlooked because 1) Aaron Judge exists and 2) there's been a lot of drama surrounding the team over the last month and a half.

That's ok, though. Judge won't be in the Derby and the Yankees organization won't be making dumb decisions front and center on the field in Atlanta. It will be Jazz against Cal Raleigh, Ronald Acuña Jr., Oneil Cruz, Brent Rooker, James Wood, Byron Buxton and Junior Caminero.

How does he stack up against them? Pretty damn well!

Not to mention, Jazz missed 30 games with an injury and has flip-flopped between second and third base while the Yankees fumbled over themselves to figure out their infield situation. Despite those obstacles, he has only thrived.

We can assume that as the trash talk from the opposing fans gets louder, Chisholm will be more motivated to deliver. We can almost guarantee that, to non-Yankees fans, Chisholm has been most remembered for his misconstrued "70%" comments and his ejection against the Cincinnati Reds.

Speaking of that, Jose Trevino won't be in Atlanta, either. Nobody to coerce the umpires to rule against Jazz. All he has to do is show up with his swing and pump that nightmare fuel into the audience at-large.