Trent Grisham made a notable defensive play during the Yankees’ 5-3 win over the Phillies at BayCare Ballpark, diving to catch a line drive in right-center field. This comes after a season in which Grisham struggled defensively due to a left hamstring injury that persisted for much of last year.
“It’s good to get a diving catch out of the way early,” Grisham said.
In 2025, Grisham achieved career highs in several offensive categories, including runs (87), hits (116), home runs (34), RBIs (74), slugging percentage (.464), and OPS+ (125). However, his defensive metrics declined, with minus-3 fielding run value and minus-2 outs above average—his first time finishing negative in both Statcast categories. From 2019 to 2024, he had ranked fourth among MLB center fielders with 16 outs above average.
“It’s not something I’ve ever really had to worry about,” Grisham said. “When there’s enough data in the middle of the year, I like to know where I am in the pack as far as center fielders go. I knew I was down toward the bottom of the list that year. I took that personally this offseason and wanted to get better.
“It was more mentally putting a chip back on my shoulder to get that edge again.”
Grisham attributed some of his struggles last season to lingering effects from his hamstring injury. The issue became prominent during an incident last June in Toronto when he exited a game early after catching his cleat on turf. The Yankees were concerned enough about his health that they called up Bryan De La Cruz from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as insurance but ultimately kept Grisham on the roster after he completed light sprints before batting practice.
“I felt good enough to go at the end of the day and play,” said Grisham. “Maybe I was not quite 100 percent, but it wasn’t really about that. It was about wanting to be out there and playing, and I felt like I could do a pretty good job out there.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone suggested that injuries affected Grisham’s defensive statistics last season: “Sometimes if there’s a handful of plays that don’t get made in the gap, that’s going to ding you pretty hard,” Boone said. “In the middle of the season, we had a handful of balls that he normally gets to and moves the needle on the metrics.
“To his credit, he was still playing well through that, but nursing that for a period of time. I expect him to be really good out there, and hopefully the metrics support that he’s back in line with who he’s been his whole career.”
The Yankees factored this context into their decision last November when they extended Grisham a qualifying offer worth $22.025 million for one year. General manager Brian Cashman later commented on how valuable this deal looks compared with other top free agent outfielders such as Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger: “All the information we buy into leads us to believe,” Cashman said of Grisham, “that [performance] was real and that is sustainable, and that he is an offensive and defensive player for us as we move forward.”
Grisham said accepting New York’s qualifying offer was not an easy choice: “Winning. I wanted to win,” Grisham said. “I think that’s how you get the best out of yourself as a player. That was just my priority. That weighed most into the decision.”
