NEW YORK – For years, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has built an identity around playing at maximum effort. His closest friends even nicknamed him “Ricky Bobby,” a nod to the "Talladega Nights" character who lived by one motto: “I wanna go fast.”
But these days, Chisholm is learning there’s value in taking his foot off the gas -- just a little. Chisholm said he recently decided to try performing at “70%,” and it’s working. That’s why he beamed brightly as he rounded the bases with a first-inning homer in the Yankees’ 9-6 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.
“It’s really a mindset thing,” Chisholm said. “On the home run, I was trying to hit a line drive to center field, a base hit. I wasn’t even trying to hit a home run. It ended up shooting off my bat and getting over the fence. That’s why I was so hyped coming around first base: It hit me, ‘70% is really enough to be a great baseball player.’”
Teammates toss around phrases like “electric” and “game-changer” to describe Chisholm’s impact between the lines, and his energy was a significant selling point in convincing the Yankees to acquire him from the Marlins last July.
But there was an opportunity to reflect when Chisholm spent all of May on the injured list with a right oblique strain. His batting average was frozen below the Mendoza line, and while Chisholm said he didn’t fret about getting back over .200, he knew significant changes were needed to reach a goal of batting .300 or higher.
Chisholm said he spoke frequently with Yankees coaches, particularly assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, who advised him: “At 70%, you’re one of the best out there. At 100%, you might be dog crap.”
It’s advice Chisholm has heard before, but never quite absorbed. After watching old videos of swings from his Minor League days, which Chisholm thought looked “effortless,” he vowed to give it an honest try beginning with three rehab games with Double-A Somerset.
Then came a strong series against the Guardians, setting the stage for Chisholm’s 3-for-5, four-RBI showing on Friday. Since being activated from the injured list (and shuffled, without complaint, to third base), Chisholm is 8-for-16 (.500) with two homers, six RBIs and three stolen bases.
“I really heard all my life that I need to tone down the way I play,” Chisholm said. “You can be electric while being controlled at the same time. My 70% running is probably faster than a lot of the guys in the league. … If I stay fundamentally sound at 70%, I’m a pretty good baseball player.”
Anthony Volpe added a two-run homer in New York’s five-run first inning, but Chisholm was hardly done – a main thorn in the side of Red Sox starter Walker Buehler, who appeared in the Bronx for the first time since striking out Alex Verdugo to seal the Dodgers’ World Series championship in Game 5 last October.
This time, the Yankees hammered Buehler for seven runs (five earned) and seven hits over just two innings. Chisholm laced a run-scoring single to right field in the second inning, advancing on a stolen base. Later, Chisholm singled and stole second again in the sixth, then was thrown out attempting to steal third on a play overturned by replay review.
“If that’s 70%, it doesn’t look like it,” Volpe said. “It’s fun to watch and it’s fun to be his teammate. In his mind, it might be 70%. But what I think everyone in this clubhouse loves and respects about him is, it looks like every night he’s playing with his hair on fire.”
Judge -- who raised his batting average to .397 by going 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI -- wouldn’t discount the idea that there’s something to Chisholm’s fresh mindset. It doesn’t click with how the captain is wired, but Judge sees why that might work for Chisholm.
“When you step out there in Yankee Stadium, the adrenaline is going to be flowing,” Judge said. “It’s really about slowing everything down and taking a nice, easy approach. I feel like that’s what I saw tonight, even on the home run swing to center field. I was out there at second base, and it looked like he just took a nice, easy swing on a tough curveball.”
Paul Goldschmidt added a sixth-inning homer to support Will Warren, who limited Boston to Marcelo Mayer’s first Major League home run through five frames, then was nicked for three runs in the sixth. Rafael Devers closed Boston’s deficit with a long two-run homer in the seventh, continuing to cement his reputation as a Yankee killer.
But the Yankees’ bullpen iced the Sox from there, with Jonathan Loáisiga pitching around an eighth-inning double and Devin Williams notching his seventh save as a Yankee. Chisholm kept his pinstriped top on long after the final out, seemingly in no rush to head toward the city streets.
It’s not difficult to figure out why. Healthy with his offensive stats on the rise, life is good at 70% for Chisholm. It doesn’t hurt that the American League East-leading Yanks have won three of four since his return, recalling another morsel of Ricky Bobby-approved wisdom that Chisholm would welcome under the hood: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
“We not only want to win the division, but we want to win in every category,” Chisholm said. “We want to be the best team in MLB. That’s why we’re out here trying to win the World Series. We went there last year and thought we had it. This year, we’re going to make sure we have it.”