The Yankees were faced with their toughest exam of the season in the recent four-game series against the Red Sox — a test they failed miserably by losing the first three games by a combined score of 19-4. At least they were able to salvage a win to avoid the sweep, taking the series finale by a score of 7-2. Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm Jr. both homered twice, and it’s Chisholm’s final home run that earns the nod for At-Bat of the Week.
We join Jazz with one out in the bottom of the eighth and
Paul Goldschmidt standing on first with a single. Walker Buehler entered as a reliever in the sixth inning. His first year with the Red Sox since leaving LA has certainly not gone according to plan, his -0.7 fWAR by far the worst of any pitcher with at least 110 innings pitched. Jazz has already homered in the game — a two-run moonshot in the second off an elevated four-seamer by Dustin May, Buehler’s former Dodgers teammate.
Considering Jazz went yard off a heater, it makes sense that Buehler would start this at-bat off with a first-pitch knuckle curve, hoping to catch the hitter guessing on a fastball.
That’s exactly what happens here, Buehler getting Jazz to chase and whiff over the top of the curve. The ball looks like an elevated four-seamer in the zone out of Buehler’s hand before ending up almost in the dirt. He was able to induce over a foot of downward movement on the pitch — a top-12 curveball in baseball when it comes to vertical drop vs. average.
Now that he’s made Jazz chase the first-pitch curve out of the zone, Buehler has him perfectly set up for the elevated four-seamer out of the zone. It should look like a hanging curveball, only to hold its plane high.
The process is sound, but the execution is poor. Buehler releases the pitch too early and it sails head-high above the zone for an automatic take from Jazz, one of the easiest takes he’s had all season.
Based on that pitch alone, it appears Buehler has zero feel for his fastball. He scraps it immediately and goes back to his breaking arsenal, which makes sense given he got Jazz to chase one to start the AB.
However, Buehler once again badly fails with his execution, tugging this pitch way out of the zone inside. Jazz has to vault out of the way to avoid being hit on his front knee.
With very little effort needed on his own part, Jazz has fought back to tilt the count leverage in his favor, from 0-1 to 2-1. So far the only pitch that Buehler has shown any aptitude at executing is the knuckle curve, so it’s no surprise to see him go back to that offering.
The problem for Buehler is that Jazz was waiting for it. Buehler leaves this curveball a little more elevated than the first pitch of the encounter, and it ends up right in the happy zone down and in for a lefty hitter. I love the way Jazz keeps his weight back and sinks into his base as the pitch arrives, allowing him to preserve power despite getting the front foot down early. He golfs the ball over the short porch with a smooth swing and treats the crowd to one of the best bat flips of the year.
Here’s the full AB:
There is so much to like about Jazz’s approach on that 2-1 pitch. He reads the terrible execution of the four-seamer and slider as well as Buehler’s disgusted body language following that pair of pitches, allowing him to pretty much sit on the knuckle curve in the 2-1 count. However, it’s not enough to just guess right: you also have to match your swing path and timing to a pitch with wicked downward movement. Jazz filed away the movement profile of the first knuckle curve for later in the at-bat, meaning he could anticipate exactly where to drop the barrel once he recognized the 2-1 curveball out of Buehler’s hand.
We learned after the game that Jazz’s best friend had passed away very recently, making the fact that he was able to maintain his concentration throughout the game to hit a pair of home runs all the more impressive. It’s a pretty cool tribute to hit the two bombs — the first being the 100th of his MLB career — in memory of his friend and we hope Jazz is able to find peace during what must be a difficult time.
Despite some ups and downs, on the whole Jazz has been everything the Yankees could have asked for from their second baseman. His 25 home runs are a new career high, and the combination of his elite defense and base running ability have proven incredibly valuable. And for a player who has been streaky at the plate his whole career, the fact he is heating up of late — six home runs and a 197 wRC+ in his last 14 games — could not come at a better time for the Yankees.
