Jazz Chisholm Jr. will play third base if Yankees need him: 'I'm a team guy'

With Jazz Chisholm Jr. set to return from his oblique injury soon, the question of which position the young slugger will play has come up. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told the media that they want Chisholm Jr. to give the team flexibility and the infielder started at third base on Thursday night in his first rehab start with Double-A Somerset.

Chisholm Jr. began the 2025 season exclusively as the team’s second baseman with the departure of Gleyber Torres but the Yankees didn’t anticipate the injuries that would happen. Aside from Chisholm being sidelined for a month, Oswaldo Cabrera, the team’s starting third baseman out of spring training, will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury.

That has left Boone and the organization with some decisions to make and it seems like Chisholm Jr. will be asked to move back to the hot corner.

“[Boone] told me he wanted me at third base. He really wanted me at third base. I’m a team guy. I’m here to win a ring. I’m not here to fight over positions,” Chisholm said about playing third base after his rehab game. “We’ve got some of the best players in the world on our team…I’m just here to help us win.”

Prior to the 2024 season, Chisholm Jr. had played third base in a professional game, whether in the majors in minors. When the Yankees acquired him at the trade deadline last year, Torres was not receptive to moving, so Chisholm Jr. was asked and accepted the move to third base. He played 45 regular season games at third base for the Yankees and the entire postseason run in 2024.

“I always wanted to play third. That’s why I liked playing third last year,” Chisholm said. “I grew up as an A-Rod fan, wore 13, 3 all the time as a kid… I always thought it was a fun position to try and play. All reaction.”

Before being sidelined, Chisholm Jr. was struggling at the plate. He was hitting just .181 but had seven home runs in 30 games. He also had three errors playing second base in 29 games this season — he had seven playing third in 45 games a year ago. Perhaps this time away can reset his bat when he returns. He had two hits and reached base three times in his game on Thursday.

Chisholm Jr. said he thinks he’ll only need one or two more rehab games before he feels ready to be activated. Once he does, the Yankees will need to make room for him. If Chisholm Jr. becomes the everyday third baseman, that leaves second base to DJ LeMahieu and either Oswald Peraza or Jorbit Vivas.

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