Trent Grisham earns Juan Soto comparison after Yankees' dominant win vs. Pirates

No Cody Bellinger? No problem for the New York Yankees, especially against the left-handed starters of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

No Juan Soto? No problem just yet, either.

Trent Grisham, a left-handed slugger with a casual persona and bizarre reverse splits, has gotten the start in Bellinger's place several days in a row as the Yankees' offseason import deals with a balky bat. Belli hit off a machine on Saturday, but sat out the sopping wet affair.

Frankly, he's probably safe to sit out Sunday, too, when the Yankees will go for the sweep. That's because Grisham, despite his laissez-faire air about things, punched the Pirates repeatedly in Games 1 and 2 of this series, taking Bailey Falter to task on Saturday when the Yankees needed him most.

Grisham helped salvage the finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday with a booming double and a homer, then went 1-for-3 with two walks in Friday's series opener at PNC Park. On Saturday, he torched a solo home run in the third inning, then dealt his most powerful blow in the fifth, notching a three-run home run seemingly seconds after the Yankees had gone down 4-2.

It was a positively Soto-esque offensive onslaught - and at a much cheaper price, too.

Yankees' Trent Grisham looks like a better bet than Juan Soto right now (for April 2025, and maybe for the next 15 years?)

Grisham, the second of the two players the Yankees obtained in last winter's blockbuster deal with San Diego, fell victim to his own nature a few times last season, sometimes appearing too casual for the task at hand as the Yankees struggled over the summer.

Never let it be forgotten, though, that it was Grisham who found the Monster with the Yankees down to their last strike against Kenley Jansen and Boston, potentially putting a World Series season back on its course.

And now, as Soto struggles to consistently find his rhythm with the Mets and Aaron Judge outhomers his former Bash Brother six to one, even Grisham has gotten in on the head-to-head action. This won't last long, and is the kind of thing that tends to happen to the Red Sox instead of the Yankees these days, but we will take it.

More importantly, we will also take this electrically balanced lineup, from unorthodox leadoff men Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice at the top, to Grisham and a cavalcade of unheralded bats that simply will not quit at the bottom. Through the fifth inning on Saturday, Grish and the five-through-nine hitters had six hits, eight hard-hit balls, and eight RBI. That'll play.