SAN DIEGO — Trent Grisham knew something was wrong before the Yankees knew exactly what they were dealing with.
The center fielder felt discomfort in his right hamstring while trying to steal second base in the second inning of Friday night’s 3-2, 10-inning loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. He returned to center for the bottom half, but the problem became visible when he moved slowly toward a Xander Bogaerts blooper that dropped for an RBI single.
Grisham was gone before the bottom of the third. Spencer Jones shifted from right field to center, Heliot Ramos entered in right, and another Yankees roster question suddenly changed shape. Mason Miller eventually earned the win for San Diego after Luis Campusano’s two-run walk-off homer in the 10th erased Jones’ go-ahead single.
The timing makes any leg injury more serious than it would have been in June. The Yankees entered Sunday at 81-61 with 20 regular-season games remaining. They were four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and 3 1/2 games ahead of Boston for the American League’s top wild-card spot, according to MLB’s official standings.
Grisham is also nearing the end of a one-year, $22.025 million contract he accepted through the qualifying-offer process last winter. His 2026 season already had moved in the wrong direction. MLB’s official statistics list him at .211/.308/.395 with 18 home runs, 59 RBIs and a .703 OPS through 121 games.
His place in the lineup was already under pressure. Grisham entered the injury batting .127 with two homers over his previous 19 games, while Jones had begun to force his way into a larger role. That made Friday’s exit more than a medical interruption. It arrived just as the Yankees were deciding how center field should look once Judge returned.
Then came the part of the Yankees’ response that carried more weight than any early diagnosis.
Yankees act before the MRI
New York placed Grisham on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a right hamstring strain and recalled Jasson Dominguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees made the move before Grisham had undergone imaging.
That does not establish the grade of the strain or guarantee that Grisham’s regular season is over. It does establish that the Yankees did not need an MRI to know he would miss enough time to require an IL stint.
According to Greg Joyce, “Trent Grisham has not gotten imaging yet, but they knew it was significant enough for an IL. Still TBD whether he can get back in time with three weeks left in the regular season.”
Aaron Boone made clear that the remaining calendar is now part of the medical question. Asked whether Grisham can make it back before the regular season ends, the Yankees manager did not offer reassurance.
“I think it’s too early to know,” Boone said.
Grisham was scheduled for testing either later Saturday in San Diego or after the Yankees returned to New York. No public imaging result had surfaced as of Sunday afternoon.
Same hamstring, much less runway
The recurrence adds another layer. Grisham missed about three weeks earlier this season with a moderate strain of the same right hamstring. He said the latest discomfort was in a different spot, and Boone said Grisham felt better the next day than he had after the first injury.
That comparison was the most encouraging detail the Yankees offered, though Boone stopped short of turning it into a timetable.
“Feels like he felt a little bit better today than when he did it a couple months ago,” Boone said. “Different spot. So we’ll see.”
The calendar is less forgiving this time. A minimum 10-day absence from a Sept. 5 placement pushes Grisham deep into the final three weeks before the Sept. 29 start of the Wild Card Series. Even a return at the earliest possible point would leave only a short window to prove the hamstring can handle everyday center-field work.
That is the hidden consequence of the Yankees moving immediately. The issue is no longer simply whether Grisham can return. It is whether he can return soon enough to rebuild his timing, show that his legs can hold up and make himself part of the Yankees’ postseason calculation.
A slump makes the timing even harsher
Grisham was already losing ground before the injury. He was 4-for-44 over his final 14 games before landing on the IL, a .091 average with a .414 OPS. Over his last 19 games dating to Aug. 15, he hit .127 with two home runs.
That downturn followed a 2025 breakout in which Grisham hit a career-high 34 homers and produced enough value for the Yankees to risk the $22.025 million qualifying offer. This season he has 18 homers in 121 games, while his defensive metrics in center have also declined.
The contrast matters because Jones has moved in the other direction. The rookie entered Saturday batting .326 with four homers and 11 RBIs over 15 games since Aug. 20, then went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the Yankees’ 5-1 win over San Diego.
With Grisham out, Boone expects Jones to receive regular work in center, with Cody Bellinger available there in certain matchups. Domínguez gives the roster another outfield option while Aaron Judge continues moving toward a return from his rib injury.
Grisham’s roster place is no longer guaranteed
Before Friday, the Yankees were approaching a difficult decision. Judge’s expected return could have forced New York to choose between optioning Jones or creating room elsewhere on the roster. Grisham’s injury removed that immediate squeeze.
It also changes the center-field question. Jones now has a chance to establish himself without a daily timeshare, and Boone said the Yankees believe regular repetitions could help sharpen the rookie’s routes and jumps.
For Grisham, that means recovery alone may not settle everything. If Jones keeps producing while Grisham is sidelined, the Yankees could face a different decision if the veteran is cleared late in September: not whether there is room for Jones, but what role remains for Grisham.
The Yankees still need the imaging to define the injury. They do not need it to define the urgency. With only weeks left, a second right-hamstring strain, an immediate IL placement and a hot rookie taking over center field have compressed Grisham’s season into a race against both the calendar and the depth chart.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
