Among Yankees regulars, only Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon had a lower wRC+ than Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s 72 mark before Wednesday’s game against the Orioles. To say that the second baseman’s season has been a disappointment to this point would be an understatement.
Before taking the field on Wednesday, Chisholm’s slash line was at .200/.280/.320 with four home runs, 11 stolen bases, and a 29.2 percent strikeout rate in 168 plate appearances. As you can see, his production is down across the board. You
can tell Jazz is frustrated by how things are going, and he recently acknowledged that he’s “not swinging well.” He did say, however, that he’s working hard to get back on track. Chisholm summed up his slump, probably without knowing he did.
The strikeout rate is higher than last year’s 27.9 percent, but the difference is not that big between this year and last. The most worrisome development about Chisholm’s 2026 campaign has been his horrible contact quality metrics, and that suggests that, well, he’s really not swinging well. It might be a timing issue, a mental block, or a mechanical problem, but his batted ball metrics are awful, probably as bad as they have ever been.
The main issue is that Chisholm is just not barreling the ball. A year after ranking in the 91st percentile in barrel rate with 15 percent, he is at 5.9 percent, in the 30th percentile. That’s a huge dropoff. Additionally, Chisholm’s 35.3 percent hard-hit rate is well-below average and significantly down in comparison to last year’s 43.3 percent.
In 2025, the mercurial second baseman had a .346 xwOBA. This season, it’s down to a stunningly low .263. A whopping 94 percent of the league has a higher mark than that. His .481 expected slugging percentage last year is considerably higher than 2026’s .312.
So far, Chisholm’s contact metrics are so bad that xwOBA even thinks he has been a tad lucky. That .263 mark is lower than his .274 wOBA. His 73 mph average bat speed is not too much lower than his 73.9 mph in 2025, so the power is still there.
If he’s healthy, the Yankees have enough reasons to believe he will eventually figure things out and the talent will speak for itself. Chisholm is, at least, stealing bases and playing solid defense. But the team needs him to hit, too. He appears to be having a particularly bad time with breaking pitches — after posting a .326 xwOBA last year against this specific pitch type, he is at an alarmingly low .205 in 2026. Additionally, Chisholm might be too passive at times. His zone swing percentage is at 60.7, the lowest since his rookie season by a considerable margin, and his first-pitch swing percentage is at 31.5, his lowest mark since 2023. It’s all about having good takes, working the count, and putting up good hacks on hittable pitches, so he should eventually get to where he wants to be. A little more aggressiveness should also help him.
Expecting Chisholm to be a 72-wRC+ hitter when he finished the last two years at 111 and 126, respectively, would be foolish. However, denying that he has a lot of work to do to get his best swing back would be, too. Baseball is a game of constant adjustments, and Chisholm will need to spot the problematic areas and work on them to improve. He’s too good to be this bad, if that makes sense.
