David Lennon: Yankees' leadoff spot remains a conundrum for Aaron Boone with no easy fix
The Yankees' Trent Grisham looks on before a game against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Nobody wearing pinstripes has appeared in the leadoff spot more this season than Trent Grisham, and it’s not close.
Tuesday night was Game No. 67 for Grisham atop the Yankees’ lineup. Paul Goldschmidt, who draws the assignment against lefty starters, is a distant second with 27.
We don’t know which is a bigger indictment of the Yankees’ leadoff strategy: That Grisham has performed so poorly in the ill-suited role or that manager Aaron Boone really doesn’t have any obvious choices to replace him.
One thing is for certain. It was hard to imagine anyone else doing worse heading into Tuesday night’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners. There were 25 players in the majors with at least 220 plate appearances atop the order. Take one guess where Grisham ranked in many of the key offensive categories among those peers (hint: 25th).
Still, Boone’s rose-colored glasses were firmly in place.
“I feel really good about Grish in the leadoff spot,” Boone said Tuesday afternoon.
On this night, the manager’s faith was rewarded. Grisham bucked those negative trends a few hours later, delivering a two-run single in the seventh inning to give the Yankees some breathing room in a 4-1 victory. He also had a third-inning double, giving him four hits, a homer and three RBIs in his last two games. With these pinstripe underachievers, that put Grisham at the head of the class.
“For me,” Grisham said afterward, “It’s all about how you respond in those low times.”
The Yankees could certainly use the notoriously streaky Grisham to heat up over these final six weeks of the regular season, because he hadn’t been much of a spark to this point. Among that previously mentioned group of 25 players, Grisham was dead last in batting average (.187) and on-base percentage (.294) from the leadoff spot. He also was at the bottom with an 81 wRC+, and there was a sizable gap between him and the next lowest, the Guardians’ Steven Kwan (93).
Even going by the Yankees’ usual saving grace — slugging percentage — Grisham’s meager .339 narrowly edges the last-place Kwan (.316).
The Yankees’ offensive malaise isn’t all Grisham’s fault. He’s more like the canary in the coal mine, signaling the greater danger ahead. And if Grisham isn’t getting on base regularly, in typical table-setter fashion, that has a trickle-down effect on a drowning lineup that’s finding it impossible to function at a competent level without Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton.
Obviously, Judge’s intimidation factor totally transforms the lineup’s top third, and it’s not just Grisham. Ben Rice was an MVP candidate before Judge was sidelined with a stress fracture of his right first rib, hitting .306 with 17 homers and a 1.056 OPS in those first 54 games. Since Judge went on the shelf in early June? Over that 59-game stretch, Rice was batting .214 with 15 home runs and a .754 OPS before going 0-for-3 with a walk Tuesday night.
Not having Bellinger only compounds the problem, and it’s not like Grisham is a natural igniter on his own. Goldschmidt’s production from the leadoff spot (.274/.369/.528) is the only reason the Yankees aren’t in the cellar overall — aside from batting average (.206) and stolen bases (two) — but he’s only doing that job a quarter of the time. In the Yankees’ currently wounded state, it’s entirely possible that no amount of juggling is going to provide a meaningful impact.
“I think the lineup can be a little bit of a living organism,” Boone said before Tuesday night’s game. “Where everyone — when you’re whole — you kind of protect one another. Having a lot of good guys in there] and around makes you better individually and as a group. Yes, we’ve underperformed, but that doesn’t mean that’s going to be the case moving forward.”
Grisham’s appeal in the top spot lies mostly in his ability to supply instant offense rather than help manufacture it. Boone still sees Grisham as the 34-homer, .811 OPS threat from a year ago and occasionally, that guy shows up. On Sunday, Grisham had two of the Yankees’ four hits, including the tying homer in the eighth in an eventual 2-1 loss to Atlanta in 10 innings.
He just doesn’t have the prototypical leadoff profile, and without Judge close behind him — or even the scarier version of Rice — the payoff is diminished, leaving the “organism” looking sick too frequently.
And if not Grisham atop the order, then whom? Boone has only tried three others in the leadoff spot, and Rice (14 previous appearances) doesn’t appear to be a viable candidate without Judge at No. 2. Amed Rosario has been there eight times, but Goldschmidt is the righty option. Max Schuemann made a pair of cameos, but he’s now hitting leadoff at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
No names really jump out with a quick glance down the roster. At some point, it’s possible that George Lombard Jr. could project as leadoff hitter. But for all the maturity he’s shown, and the disciplined plate appearances, that’s not something the Yankees want to rush him into, despite their desperation. Entering Tuesday, Lombard had a total of five major-league games on his resume, and it’s not that long ago we witnessed Anthony Volpe flame out when too much was thrust on him too quickly.
Lombard does seem to have the tools necessary for the gig, along with the base-stealing ability to put pressure on the opposing defense.
As of now, Boone sounds fine with Grisham as his default leadoff man, flipping him for Goldschmidt in the platoon. Not like he has much of a choice, either, until his Big Three get back eventually.
Otherwise, it’s just hoping that Grisham can put those low times behind him.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
