BALTIMORE — Trent Grisham spent much of this season waiting for the results to match the quality of the at-bats he believed he was producing. On Tuesday night, the Yankees did not have to search for hidden value.
Grisham supplied every run in a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. He broke a scoreless game with a third-inning solo homer, then delivered the decisive hit after the Yankees finally pushed Shane Baz out in the seventh.
The rest of the New York Yankees lineup produced little. Baz struck out a season-high 10 before leaving in the seventh. Grisham accounted for the entire scoring line with Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton still unavailable.
Grisham’s 17th homer made it 1-0 before Coby Mayo tied the game off Carlos Rodon. In the seventh, Spencer Jones and George Lombard Jr. singled, Paul Goldschmidt walked and Amed Rosario struck out against left-hander Josh Walker.
That left Grisham facing a lefty with the bases loaded and two outs. Walker jumped ahead 0-2. Grisham worked the count back to 2-2 and lined a 93.8 mph sinker into center for two runs.
Grisham said the key was refusing to let the count dictate his thinking.
“Stay in it. Stay in the fight,” Grisham said. “Don’t let circumstances dictate how I’m thinking. If I get out, I get out. If he makes his pitch, he makes his pitch. But it’s not going to be because I think my way out of an at-bat.”
Yerry De los Santos earned the win, Baz took the loss and David Bednar recorded his 28th save. The Yankees improved to 70-55 and moved within five games of Tampa Bay in the AL East after the Rays lost to Toronto.
The Yankees’ center-field calculation just changed
The difficult part for the Yankees is that Grisham’s bat is becoming harder to separate from a defensive question that had been moving in the other direction.
Only a week ago, Aaron Boone backed Grisham as the club’s center fielder despite his declining range. Boone’s reasoning centered on experience, routes and ball security. The Yankees have kept the veteran in center while using the younger, faster Jones in the corners.
Statcast lists Grisham’s 2026 sprint speed at 26.6 feet per second, down from 29.1 in 2020. When Boone addressed the alignment last week, Grisham ranked last in sprint speed among 59 outfielders with at least 10 opportunities in center.
His range metrics also have slipped. Statcast currently credits him with minus-2 Outs Above Average, while a center-field review last week placed him 39th of 40 at the position by that metric.
That was easier to frame as a playing-time issue when Grisham was not hitting. It is more complicated now.
Since Aug. 3, Grisham is 16-for-53, a .302 average, with six home runs and 12 RBIs over 13 games. His season line has climbed to .224/.313/.426 through 105 games.
Boone said the recent stretch has looked more like the version the Yankees expected.
“He’s really kind of got locked back in to where I feel like he’s having those good Grish at-bats every day,” Boone said. “He’s been dialed in pretty good, and obviously he’s hitting for some power now over the last several as well. A big night for him.”
Grisham’s Yankees identity has flipped
Grisham built his career in almost the opposite way. He won Gold Gloves in center field in 2020 and 2022 while his offense fluctuated. The 2025 season changed that profile, as he hit a career-high 34 home runs, drove in 74 runs and posted an .812 OPS.
The production persuaded the Yankees to give him a $22.025 million qualifying offer, which he accepted for 2026. General manager Brian Cashman described the salary before the season as potentially looking like a bargain after the free-agent market developed around Bellinger and Kyle Tucker.
For much of 2026, that claim looked less comfortable as his offense and defense both slipped. August has reopened the conversation.
Grisham homered twice and drove in four runs against Seattle on Aug. 12. He produced the Yankees’ only run with another homer in a 3-1 loss at Toronto on Aug. 14. Four days later, he drove in all three runs against Baltimore.
The roster squeeze is getting closer
The timing makes the surge more consequential.
Bellinger is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment Thursday. Judge has moved into a hitting progression, while Stanton is nearing the end of his running program. Their returns will give Boone more lineup choices.
Grisham is making one of them harder.
Jones offers the Yankees substantially more speed and has center-field experience from the minor leagues. Bellinger can also play center when healthy. Yet sitting Grisham now would mean removing the hitter who has produced six homers and 12 RBIs in less than three weeks and just drove in every run in a tight road victory.
Catcher Austin Wells said Grisham’s presence at the top gives the Yankees an immediate threat.
“Having him at the top, I feel like he gives us that impact bat from the start,” Wells said. “I feel like that’s what we need, and he’s been doing a great job of that, so it’s been awesome.”
Grisham can become a free agent again after the season, adding another layer to the final six weeks. For the Yankees, the immediate question is simpler. Boone’s trust in Grisham’s center-field instincts once had to outweigh diminished range and an inconsistent bat. Now the bat is producing enough to make that tradeoff much harder to resolve.
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