BALTIMORE — For most of the early going, Smooth Jazz has been on mute for the Yankees.
But Jazz Chisholm Jr. said before Yankees’ 6-2 win over the Orioles Tuesday he is “working my butt off every day to get back” to the player he is capable of being, and the one the Yankees need him to be in order to be their best version.
“Everybody gets frustrated with their performance when they’re not doing well,” said Chisholm, who was out of the lineup Tuesday against Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers. “Right now, I’m not swinging well.”
After going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Monday night — three of those at-bats coming with runners in scoring position — and 0-for-1 Tuesday night pinch hitting for Amed Rosario, Chisholm fell to batting just .200 with a .600 OPS this season.
He has looked like a shell of the hitter he was last season, when he hit 31 homers and stole 31 bases, leading him to proclaim a goal of 50-50 this season.
But in a crucial contract year, Chisholm has yet to live up to his own lofty expectations, though he insisted that his uncertain future is not getting in his head.
“No, not right now,” he said. “It’s still pretty early for that. But right now, all I want to do is help my team win. When you feel like you’re not doing that and you’re not helping, especially with the bat … it sucks.”
Aaron Boone suggested Monday that Chisholm might be pressing and trying to make things happen instead of letting the game come to him.
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“There’s been stretches this year where it seems like he’s starting to get it going a little bit and then a little bit of a pullback,” Boone said. “He hasn’t fully broken out yet. And he will. It’s the hard part of this game as a hitter, even the good ones, you’re going to go through it in different stretches That’s where you got to be mentally tough and continue to stick to your process and make subtle adjustments and then walk out there with some swagger.”
Unlike some of the other struggling Yankees in the lineup — notably Trent Grisham, and to some extent Austin Wells — Chisholm does not have the underlying metrics to suggest he has been the victim of bad luck and should be better than his surface numbers indicate.
During his 30-30 season last year, Chisholm posted a 15 percent barrel rate, which ranked in the 91st percentile; this year, it is 6.0 percent, ranking in the 31st percentile.
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Last year, he had an expected wOBA (weighted on-base average) of .346, which ranked in the 78th percentile; this year, it is .262, which is in the fifth percentile.
And last year, his expected slugging percentage was .481, which ranked in the 83rd percentile; this year, it is .310, which ranks in the 11th percentile.
“Just focusing on trying to square the ball up to center field every time I get up there,” Chisholm said. “Swing at the right pitches, put it in play.”
Due to the threat of rain, Wednesday’s series finale has been moved up from 6:35 p.m. to 1:05 p.m.
