TAMPA, Fla. —The Yankees have spent the spring building toward a season they believe can end in a championship. The rotation is deep. Aaron Judge is Aaron Judge. The lineup projects as one of the most dangerous in the American League. But there is a quiet concern building in camp that could ripple through the roster if it carries into the regular season.
Trent Grisham‘s bat has gone cold. Really cold. The Yankees center fielder is hitting .171/.292/.195 through Grapefruit League play. His slugging percentage is lower than his on-base percentage. He has not hit a home run this spring. For a player coming off a career year and earning $22 million to repeat it, the numbers are hard to ignore.
What Grisham delivered for the Yankees in 2025
Context matters before writing anyone off. Grisham’s 2025 season with the Yankees was legitimately impressive. He slashed .235/.348/.464 with 34 home runs and 74 RBI across 143 games, posting an .811 OPS and a 129 wRC+. Those 34 home runs doubled his previous career high of 17. He ranked in the 99th percentile in chase rate, per Baseball Savant, showing elite plate discipline that helped him draw 82 walks.
As the Yankees leadoff hitter, Grisham appeared in 406 plate appearances from the top of the order. He crushed 23 home runs and drove in 43 runs batting first, tying Alfonso Soriano and Bobby Bonds for the most multi-homer games from the leadoff spot in a single season in franchise history.
That production is what led the Yankees to extend the $22.025 million qualifying offer. Grisham accepted it, betting on himself to have another strong year and cash in as a free agent after 2026.
Analyst labels Grisham the Yankee most likely to disappoint
The New York Post’s Greg Joyce did not mince words in his 2026 Yankees season preview, tagging Grisham as the player “most likely to disappoint” on the roster.
“Nobody expected much out of Trent Grisham entering last season, only for the center fielder to grab an everyday role and crush 34 home runs, doubling his previous career high,” Joyce wrote. “That resulted in the Yankees making him the $22.025 million qualifying offer and Grisham accepting, turning up the heat on him to produce at a similar clip in 2026. The Yankees believe his breakout season was not a fluke, but if he does not match that .811 OPS, there will be renewed questions about whether the Yankees made a mistake with the qualifying offer.”
The warning carries weight because the Yankees chose Grisham over younger, cheaper alternatives. Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones were both sent to Triple-A in favor of the 29-year-old. Dominguez outperformed Grisham across the board this spring, slashing .371/.395/.686 with three home runs and an OPS north of 1.000.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman acknowledged the risk when the qualifying offer was made. He called the decision a “true coin flip” on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio back in November.
“At this point, that $22 million looks like a bargain, the way the free-agent market got away from everybody,” Cashman said. “We’re really happy that he chose to stay with us. Hopefully, he can replicate what he did last year.”
The defense and postseason struggles add to the Yankees concern
Grisham’s spring slump is not limited to his bat. The two-time Gold Glove winner openly acknowledged that his defense fell apart during the 2025 season. He finished with a career-worst minus-11 defensive runs saved, the fourth-worst mark among center fielders who played at least 1,000 innings.
“I knew I was down towards the bottom of that list last year, so I kind of took that personally this offseason,” Grisham told reporters. “I definitely wanted to get better and get back to how I was when I was younger.”
The postseason told a similar story. Grisham hit just .138/.219/.207 with a 31.3% strikeout rate during the Yankees’ playoff run. That same elevated strikeout rate has followed him into spring camp.
In a recent YES Network interview, Grisham offered a self-assessment that did not quite match the results. Asked if he was seeing the ball well, he said he was “seeing it as well as you could.” His .160 average suggests otherwise.
What it means for the Yankees as Opening Day arrives
There is no panic in the Yankees clubhouse. Spring training numbers are a small sample, and Grisham’s track record from 2025 earned him a long leash. He will be in the starting lineup when the Yankees open the season Wednesday night against the Giants in San Francisco.
Grisham, for his part, remains focused on the bigger picture.
“I want to win,” Grisham told NJ.com. “That’s really what the driving factor was. I’m a firm believer of if you keep playing this game long enough, the money takes care of itself. That’s never the biggest factor for me.”
The question is whether the Yankees can afford to wait for Grisham to find his swing. If his bat stays cold into April and May, the pressure to recall Dominguez from Triple-A will grow louder. And the $22 million price tag will look worse with every hitless night.
What do you think?
