Jazz Chisholm Jr's return to Yankees creates complicated infield situation

The Yankees traded for Jazz Chisholm Jr. just before the 2024 trade deadline. He was an immediate breath of fresh air, successfully adding all the things the team lacked: air-tight infield defense, base running skills, the ability to swipe bags, and some left-handed pop for good measure.

He's also young and still under team control to boot, and didn't cost much in prospect capital from the Miami Marlins. He also played a great third base after his arrival, a position he'd never played before, because Gleyber Torres refused to move away from second base (despite being far worse at the position than Chisholm).

In 2025, Chisholm Jr got off to a bit of a slow start offensively. There were promising things about what he was doing: walking more, chasing fewer pitches, hitting fewer ground balls and lifting the ball more (a great thing for left-handed Yankees to do), but in his one month's sample size, he was still only hitting .181/.304/.410.

The last game he played was on April 29 before going to the Injured List with an oblique injury.

Yankees' DJ LeMahieu, Jazz Chisholm Jr. set for game of infield musical chairs

In Chisholm Jr's absence, there's been a revolving door of infielders. Oswald Peraza, Jorbit Vivas, and DJ LeMahieu have all seen time at second base, and some at third base once Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a gruesome knee injury.

Vivas, hitting .154 and with -0.1 WAR, will certainly be the first out. After that, it will require either Jazz or DJ to play third, their non-natural position, and it's unclear who will win the starting spot. Both have seen extensive time at third base and can play it competently, but it seems clear that both would prefer to play second.

Both have the potential to be above-average offensive contributors, but it will come down to Aaron Boone to decide who starts. LeMahieu endeared himself to fans years ago by being the kind of player your uncle and/or grandfather loves and complains doesn't exist anymore. He doesn't walk much, he doesn't strike out much, and he hits for a high batting average. Traded to the Yankees from the Rockies in the offseason before the 2019 season, his calm (often expressionless) demeanor and performance in the playoffs became his brand. He had an excellent shortened 2020 season and became the first player in MLB history to win batting titles in both the American and National League.

Despite LeMahieu's impressive resume, there are some genuine questions about what kind of player he can be. Many argue that his best seasons were a product of playing at Coors Field, then succeeding in the juiced ball era, where league-wide offensive numbers were inflated by MLB's subtle tampering of the aerodynamics of the baseballs themselves.

Then, in 2022, the first in a long series of injuries impacted how much he could accomplish on the field, or kept him off it entirely (after a sports hernia knocked him out of the Yankees' one-game run in the 2021 playoffs). He missed significant portions of 2022 and 2023, and nobody was sure if he was playing through injury when he did play. He then missed almost all of 2024. LeMahieu hasn't been fully healthy in almost four years, and he's 36 now - certainly not old enough to predict a steep decline, but there are legitimate questions about what kind of player he'll be with significant playing time.

Oswald Peraza has complicated things as well by playing a stellar third base. A once highly touted prospect, he's continued to struggle offensively without much to suggest there's a turn around the corner. His defense was (and still is) his calling card, with many folks in the organization believing he has always been better at short than Anthony Volpe, who won the Gold Glove in 2023. This is the longest opportunity Peraza's gotten in the big leagues and unless he proves he can be something other than a hitter who struggles just to hit .200, it may be his last.

Fortunately, the Yankees are not in a dire situation. They are 33-20, the third-highest winning percentage in the league and second-best in the American League. They are the only team with a run differential above 100 (+111). They are six games above the Tampa Bay Rays, and are not showing any signs of slowing. While it would obviously be a good thing for either of their former All-Star second basemen to come back strong, the Yankees have bought themselves the luxury of being able to wait and see.

There is no obvious timeline for Chisholm's return. He has yet to be cleared for a minor-league rehab assignment, and when that happens, there's no way to know how quickly he'll be ready to return. DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza both have some time to show Aaron Boone they deserve more playing time, but the sand in that hourglass is starting to pile up.