Grisham confident he’ll be elite in NY
There’s no escaping failure in baseball. It’s the players that are able to embrace the fact that they’re going to fail repeatedly that are in a better position to have more success.
“That’s the hardest thing to do in professional sports,” Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham told NJ Advance Media on Sunday during a 12-6 loss to the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Fla. “That’s what separates guys at this level.”
Grisham was speaking from experience. Before he was traded from the Padres to the Yankees in the Juan Soto blockbuster this past offseason, the two-time Gold Glove Award winner was grappling with a stretch where his mind was clouded by failure. His performance between the lines went on to suffer from there as well.
RESTORING THE GLORY
The 27-year-old is elite on defense, but his numbers at the plate have been trending in the wrong direction for quite some time. Grisham posted a batting average below .200 in each of his last two campaigns, a 305-game stretch dating back to Opening Day in 2022 where the lefty hit .191 with a .647 OPS and 304 strikeouts. No other qualified hitter has a lower batting average than Grisham in that span. His 28.2 percent strikeout rate ranks fifth in the majors as well.
“I just haven’t done well with the mental game in the last two years,” Grisham said sternly. “I’ve let it beat me, which is why I’ve struggled so much.”
There wasn’t one moment where Grisham consciously decided to tweak his mindset. It was more of a gradual realization that something needed to change. The key, Grisham explained, was to recognize that it’s going to happen. No matter what. There’s no sense in letting it carry over into your next at-bat, your next game or even the next pitch when it does.
“I’m a better player than I’ve shown over the last two years,” he said. “That’s really what it boils down to. I believe in myself and I think I can be an elite player. I think it starts and ends with my mentality and the mental side of the game.”
This comes as Grisham adjusts to a new organization and a new role. Once a top prospect with the Brewers and a starting center fielder in San Diego, Grisham is now a fourth outfielder on the Yankees, an environment where he won’t be playing as much as he’s used to. And when he does touch the field, expectations will be higher than ever before in his five-year career.
“My mindset is just to be the best fourth outfielder I can be and come in every day with a great attitude,” Grisham said.
Since the Soto trade, the Yankees haven’t hidden their excitement about adding a defender of Grisham’s caliber to the outfield. Grisham ranks in the top-six of all qualified outfielders in defensive runs saved (28) and outs above average (17) since his rookie year in 2019.
What allowed Grisham to become such a skilled defender? “A great first step and the mentality that I’m going to catch anything that goes up,” he said. “Be elite at going and getting balls, developing elite range. It’s work ethic, first step and then, do you want it or not?”
The plan this season is for Grisham to be used as a weapon off the bench, a reliable late-inning defensive replacement and a lefty capable of making starts each week when Aaron Judge or Soto need a day off their feet.
“I know last year was a little shaky for him, but he’s still one of the top-10 center fielders in the league,” Soto told NJ Advance Media this spring. “I think everything that he’s doing, it’s calm and he’s concentrating on what he can do. I think he’s one of the best. More than excited to be next to him because I’ve been learning a lot from him.”
He hasn’t shown it as much recently, but there’s plenty of upside on offense in Grisham’s game as well. His pullside pop can play at Yankee Stadium and his plate discipline metrics are elite.
Asked what the best version of Trent Grisham would look like that, the outfielder said he wasn’t sure because he doesn’t want to put a limit on what he can accomplish at this level.
“I’ve never had this mindset and brought it every day to the big leagues,” Grisham said. “So I’m just excited to see what I can do in whatever role it is. I’m just excited to see what I’m capable of.”