Trent Grisham Has Been Surprise of Early Season

Anytime you lose a game to the Pirates, that’s disappointing, but the Yankees did win the first two games with their booming bats to take the series in Pittsburgh. And a big reason why that happened is because of the red-hot bat being swung by Trent Grisham. Lets get to it.  

Before we get to Yankees vs. Pirates, another reminder about the change in venue that is happening here at Pinstripe People. I’d really like everyone to hightail it over to the new site at Mighty Networks as soon as possible. Much thanks to everyone who has already done so, but that amounts to only about 10% of the total membership here, so a lot of you haven’t made the switch.

I just want to reiterate that this is an easy process. All you have to do is click this link:

That takes you to the page where you click join, and then you create your new account by adding your name, email, and a password, similar to what you did when you first subscribed to the newsletter at Beehiiv.

It shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds to a minute, and once you do it, you have access to all the content on my new website. Also, if you want, you can download the free Mighty Networks network app for your phone or tablet which is something I really love having. On the website and the app, you will have the ability to make comments under each story, start a chat with me, and watch the videos I post right in the story. Also, important to note, every story will still arrive in your email inbox like it currently does.

It’s all very slick and I think you’ll like it a lot once you switch over. As I said, I’ll be posting in both places for a little while because I don’t want to lose anyone and I’m going to have to keep sending this note out, but eventually, I want to post only at Mighty Networks, so please, come on over and join us.

I’m going re-post this newsletter at about 10 a.m. this morning at Mighty Networks so you’ve got a little time to create your account, and then at around 10 you can see how the whole thing works, meaning you’ll get two emails from me today.

And now, on to the baseball.

Unfortunately, Trent Grisham did not come through in his final at bat Sunday when he flied to left with two men on base to end the 11th inning. But I’m not going to hold that against him because the main reason why the Yankees were playing in the 11th inning is because Grisham continued his improbably hot start with an uber-clutch two-out, two-run game-tying single in the ninth.

It was a game the Yankees had no business winning because of the way their offense was muted by two former Yankee flameouts, Andrew Heaney and Dennis Santana for eight innings, and because Will Warren stunk. It was nice that they got off the deck in the ninth and tied it with three runs, but that excitement quickly died when they produced two scoreless extra innings despite the help of the automatic running starting at second base. Not good.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak which Grisham played a starring role in. In those three games - one against Arizona, two against Pittsburgh - Grisham went 6-for-11 with two walks, three homers and seven RBI. And then Sunday he went 2-for-5 with the two big RBIs to cap what has been far and away the best little run of his brief Yankees career.

I’d have to say Grisham has been the most surprising player in the early going because there’s no way I thought he would ever be anything more than a late-inning defensive replacement based on what we saw last year when he hit .190 with a .290 on-base.

Grisham has never been a good hitter - his career average is .215 - but in 2024, he was not helped by the fact that he didn’t get any regular playing time. Aaron Boone kept sending Alex Verdugo out to left every day even though he was an awful hitter, and with Juan Soto entrenched in right and Giancarlo Stanton the DH, that meant Aaron Judge played most of his games in center which is Grisham’s position.

“That was a learning experience,” Grisham said of all the pine he rode last season. “I’d never done that before, but I knew what I was getting into coming into the season. So I was in a good place mentally and just tried to learn as much as I could. I treated every day like I was starting, just starting later. I’d do all my prep that I do starting in the fifth inning, as opposed to an hour before a game.”

This year, things are a little different in the outfield. He still doesn’t have a starting role, but he has gotten into three games as a defensive replacement when Boone has pulled new left fielder Jasson Dominguez and moved Cody Bellinger from center over to right. And Grisham also has five starts including all three games in Pittsburgh, two because Bellinger was out with back stiffness.

Obviously he has thrived with the extra work and it’s gonna be tough to take him out of the lineup now that Bellinger is back, assuming of course that he stays healthy which is always a question with him. Boone had an easy solution Sunday because he sat DH Ben Rice against the lefty Heaney, so Grisham was in center, Bellinger played right and Judge was the DH.

“He kind of embodies what we try to do, and that’s swinging at good pitches and being patient, but also having an aggression in there,” Boone said. “He does a good job of controlling the zone naturally. He can be a little passive. I think he’s been doing a really good job of being aggressive, and when he’s getting a pitch, he’s stinging it.”

Grisham’s defense remains outstanding, as you would expect from a two-time Gold Glove winner. The bat has always held him back, but in eight games, if you can believe this since he plays on the same team as Judge, Grisham actually leads the Yankees in every key metric - .465 average, .538 on-base, .909 slug and 1.447 OPS.

Yes, that’s not going to last and Judge will eventually soar past him, but given who Grisham is as a player, his offensive contributions have been shocking, and he’s a key reason why the Yankees are in first place in the AL East at 6-3.

“I’ve been in a good spot mentally,” Grisham said. “I’m just staying in the present, and keeping going.”

April 6: Pirates 5, Yankees 4 (11)

➤ It’s hard to rail about the offense after the start it has had, but once the Yankees finally woke up and scored three runs to tie the game in the ninth, their at bats in the 10th and 11th innings are what prevented a victory.

➤ They looked dead in the water starting the ninth. Heaney crushed them for seven innings, the only run he allowed coming in the first when Bellinger singled, stole second and scored on Jazz Chisholm’s double. Over the next seven innings, they managed three hits off Heaney and Santana. But then in the ninth against Ryan Borucki, with one out Anthony Volpe singled, and after a stupid bunt attempt by Austin Wells for the second out, Dominguez walked, Oswald Peraza doubled to left to make it 4-2, and Grisham delivered his tying single.

➤ But in the 10th against another former Yankee stiff, Caleb Ferguson, Paul Goldschmidt started at second and Bellinger, after getting ahead 3-0, wound up grounding out. Yes, he moved Goldy to third, but Bellinger waved at a terrible pitch that would have resulted in a walk. Bad job. His out allowed the Pirates to intentionally walk Judge. Chisholm then swung at a pitch in the dirt and flipped a little pop to second so Goldy couldn’t score, and then Volpe grounded out.

➤ After Luke Weaver, who pitched an easy ninth, got into and out of trouble in the 10th, the Yankees wasted another chance in the 11th. With Volpe starting at second, Wells struck out, but Dominguez reached on an error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa so it was first and third. But Peraza struck out and Grisham flied out.

➤ That left the door open in the 11th and the Pirates ended it when Tommy Pham - batting .069 for the season - battled Devin Williams for nine pitches before lashing a shot off the wall in left to drive in the winning run. It was pretty disappointing that Williams, who is supposed to be a lights out closer, couldn’t put away Pham.

➤ As for Warren, he retired the first eight men he faced, but then just like Marcus Stroman Saturday, the second time through the order was a disaster and they got him for two runs in the third and two more in the fourth, six hits total and a walk, that one Kiner-Falefa with two outs in the third that led to the first two runs against.

➤ Williams’ failure ruined a tremendous bullpen showing as Weaver, Brent Headrick and Yoendrys Gomez each threw two hitless, scoreless innings, though they did combine for four walks.

➤ If Grisham is the most surprising hitter so far, Headrick is the most surprising pitcher. The lefty has pitched in four games, and has given up no runs and one hit in 5.1 innings with nine strikeouts. He was a waiver signing in February after two failed seasons with the Twins when his ERA was 5.97 in 15 appearances. And for all that good work, guess what? The Yankees sent him down to Triple-A after the game and re-signed Adam Ottavino. I have no clue why they did that, but there it is.

What they said in Sunday’s clubhouse

• Boone on Warren: “There was a lot of good in there, mixed with little spots where he lost it. He had a lot of deep counts today, which drove his work up. Not being able to push across a few times (in extras) just caught up with us. Little bit of a tough day for us offensively, but what a great rally there in the ninth to get us back into it.”

• Warren: “Two-out walk, kind of like last week, ended up biting us in the butt. Two-out walks can’t happen. … When you have those 3-2 counts with a base open, just go at them. I think I made a solid pitch, just a little off. I think you can miss in the zone and let them get themselves out.”

• Williams on the loss: “We’re expected to do a job and I didn’t do it today. (The offense) did a great job battling back in the ninth, giving us a chance to win. Weave did a great job keeping them off the board there for two innings. I couldn’t get it done.”

April 5: Yankees 10, Pirates 4

➤ By the end of Saturday night the Yankees had 25 home runs in their first eight games while the Pirates had scored 27 runs in their first nine games. If that doesn’t illustrate the difference between these two franchises, nothing does, which is why losing the Sunday game was frustrating. This is not a team the Yankees should lose to.

➤ The latest pair of homers both came off the bat of Grisham, a solo bomb to right-center leading off the third against lefty Bailey Falter, and then a three-run shot down the left-field line, also off Falter in the fourth. That one keyed a six-run explosion that was capped by Volpe’s three-run double to left-center to give the Yankees an 8-4 lead.

➤ Marcus Stroman had a pretty easy time going through the Pirates order the first time as he gave up just a double to Oneil Cruz at the end of an 11-pitch at-bat where he couldn’t put the kid away. But then he shit the bed in the fourth inning and the Pirates scored their only four runs. Stroman is going to be such a problem because he has no velocity and the only way he can succeed is if he’s painting the edges and the umpire is in a good mood. In his four innings, he gave up the four runs on three hits and three walks and he threw 74 pitches because he went to a three-ball count on six hitters.

➤ Once he was out, the bullpen was fantastic. Tim Hill gave up a hit and a walk but left both stranded; Mark Leiter needed only five pitches to work the sixth; Fernando Cruz was dominant in a 13-pitch, two-strikeout seventh; and then Ryan Yarbrough, who gave up a grand slam the last time he pitched against Arizona, was lights out pitching the last two innings, allowing just a walk while striking out five. That was eye-popping.

➤ Wells drove in the first run of the day with a single to end a tough eight-pitch battle with Falter, and Grisham’s first homer made it 2-0. And what I loved is that after the Pirates took the 4-2 lead, the Yankees immediately answered with their six-run fifth. In that inning, the first five men reached base which knocked Falter out of the game, and all of them eventually scored thanks to Grisham and Volpe’s big hits.

➤ Nice day for Paul Goldschmidt who went 3-for-4 in the leadoff spot. Every man in the lineup had at least one hit as the Yankees totaled 14. One of those guys was Peraza who got the start at third and went 2-for-4.

➤ Clark Schmidt made his first rehab start at Double-A Somerset and it went very well, 3.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. He’s scheduled to make one more, then join the Yankees after that, probably when the Yankees host the Royals April 14-16.

What they said in Saturday’s clubhouse

• Boone on the offense: “It’s been relentless; they’ve really started taking tough at-bats. For the most part, we’re scoring a lot and a lot of guys are swinging the bat well. You’re going to have nights when you get shut down a little bit, but I feel like there’s been a real consistency to their approach.”

April 4: Yankees 10, Pirates 4

➤ This was a much better start for Max Fried than his debut last weekend. Now granted, it was the Pirates who have one of the worst offenses in MLB, but I thought he was much sharper. He threw 98 pitches across 5.2 innings and gave up just one run on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts.

➤ His counterpart, Mitch Keller, did not fare as well. Keller sits behind budding superstar Paul Skenes and Jared Jones (currently injured) in the Pirates very impressive top three in the rotation. He’s a good pitcher who I’d love to have on the Yankees, but this was not his night. He had no command and when he did get it into the zone, the Yankees hammered him for seven runs on eight hits and four walks. Yeah, he was brutal.

➤ What was interesting is that outside of Judge’s two-run homer in the seventh off Tim Mayza, it was the bottom of the order that killed Keller. The 6-9 hitters Volpe, Grisham, Dominguez and Oswaldo Cabrera went a combined 9-for-15 with five runs scored and seven driven in, and what I liked about this game is that all of the runs those guys produced were manufactured without a long ball. The Yankees hit very well in situations and that’s always good to see.

➤ I still think the Yankees need a full-time third baseman, but Cabrera is certainly stating his case. He got the scoring started with a two-run single in the second, he had an RBI single in the third, and then he drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth that pushed the lead to 7-1. In that third inning, the Yankees drew two walks and Wells and Dominguez were both hit by pitches, the second of those forced in a run. So yeah, quite the manufacturing of runs.

➤ The only negative was Cruz’s terrible seventh inning when he gave up a double, a single and a three-run homer to Ke’Bryan Hayes. After he left, Headrick got four outs, and Williams made his return from the paternity list and pitched for the first time since his near-disaster on Opening Day. This was a glaring improvement, though he did walk a batter so it wasn’t a 1-2-3.

➤ Thankfully, Judge didn’t get hurt when he crashed into the wall after making an excellent catch off Hayes leading off the first. This was his 1,000th career game, and the homer was his 321st, by far the most of any player in MLB history. Next on the list is former Phillies slugger Ryan Howard who had 279. What about Babe Ruth, you ask? Remember, his career began in Boston as a pitcher and he didn’t start mashing home runs until 1919. However, this is pretty incredible: In his first 1,000 games as a Yankee, starting in 1920, he hit 321 homers.

What they said in Friday’s clubhouse

• Cabrera on his night: “I think it’s early. I try to stay the most present possible. I’m not trying to think about what can happen tomorrow. I’m trying to control the things I can control. The thing that I can control is just trying to work hard every time and get better, and when I get the opportunity, take advantage.”

• Fried: “I just felt like it was a little bit more of my game. I was able to execute some pitches. The fastball down and in was really good today. When I’m throwing that fastball in, it just opens up everything else.”

• Judge on the lineup: “Just the depth, I think that’s the biggest thing. You got guys all the way down in our 9-hole that can leave the park on you or give you a seven-, eight-pitch at-bat and then drill the ball in the gap. So just having the depth to where it’s not just a couple guys in the lineup you gotta worry about. You get down there, and you got Goldy and Wells and Volpe hiding out in the middle of the lineup. It makes for a long night for the pitching staff.”

The Yankees are on their way to Detroit and with the weather forecast calling for very cold temperatures at Comerica Park, three games that were originally scheduled for 6:40 starts have all been pushed up to the afternoon, which I love.

After their great finishing kick which enabled them to sneak into the postseason in 2o24, the Tigers are off to a so-so start, but at 6-4 that’s good enough for first place in the ever-mediocre AL Central, and they’ve done that without the services of former Yankee Gleyber Torres who suffered an oblique injury in the first week of the season and is expected to miss a month.

They are also coming off quite a victory Sunday when they rallied from down 4-2 to the pathetic White Sox to score three times as Spencer Torkelson ripped a game-winning two-run double for a 5-4 victory and three-game sweep.

Here are some of the Tigers to watch:

➤ OF Riley Greene: Probably the Tigers’ best player and he’s raking early with a .351 average and three home runs.

➤ 1B Spencer Torkelson: The No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 round has been a disappointment in his first three seasons, but he’s off to a very nice start in 2025 with a .439 on-base and six RBI.

➤ 2B Colt Keith: Last year he walked just 36 times in 556 plate appearances; this year, he’s already walked 12 times in 35 plate appearances so his on-base is .457.

➤ OF Kerry Carpenter: His three homers are tied for the team lead with Greene, but he’s struggling out of the gate and hitting .219.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Monday, 3:10, YES: Carlos Rodon (3.97 ERA) vs. Casey Mize (0.00), a 2018 first-round pick who is expected to become one of the best young pitchers in MLB. In his first start, he threw 5.2 scoreless, one-hit against the Mariners.

• Tuesday, 3:10, YES: Carlos Carrasco (7.36) vs. Tarik Skubal (5.91). The 2024 AL Cy Young winner is off to a rocky start and he has given up seven runs in 10.2 innings, but he’s still a beast.

• Wednesday, 1:10, YES: Max Fried (2.61) vs. Jack Flaherty (2.38) who has been very good in his first two starts, but who faced the Yankees twice in the World Series for the Dodgers and had an 8.10 ERA in two starts covering just 6.2 innings.