Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. sets record straight on 'most overrated player' label

The New York Yankees made arguably the most impactful move at the MLB Trade Deadline with the addition of Jazz Chisholm Jr. in a trade with the Miami Marlins. Before the trade happened, an anonymous survey of MLB players from the Athletic had Chisholm voted as “the most overrated player in baseball”, and he is not letting that get to him.

“What was it, like 11 players? I definitely knew who they were talking to, too,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said, via Deesha Thosar of Fox Sports. “I didn't really care. Who cares what somebody else has to say about me? If he really voted that I'm overrated, that means you got something in your psyche, brother. … Like me, I'm not going out and voting who's an overrated player because I don't even know who an overrated player is. I don't look at people that hard. I only look at people who are good, I'm sorry. So you call me overrated, I gotta be good. That's how I look at it.”

When the Yankees acquired Chisholm, there were some questions about his fit with the clubhouse, but general manager Brian Cashman reached out to people like Derek Jeter, who was the owner in Miami when Chisholm was there. Jeter gave a stamp of approval.

There was some locker room drama with Chisholm and other veterans with the Marlins, most notably Miguel Rojas, who was moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Many fans also believed that Chisholm was not deserving of being on the cover of MLB The Show in 2023, which seemingly played into players voting for him as most overrated.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s hot start with Yankees

It has been a good few weeks for Chisholm since being traded to the Yankees, as he is batting .296 with a .345 on-base percentage with seven home runs and a 1.049 OPS, according to Baseball Reference. That is well over Chisholm's career norms, and it would be a surprise if he sustained that with the Yankees in a bigger sample. However, he could see a bump in his power numbers due to playing in Yankee Stadium, as his overlays show that he would have had more home runs if he had been playing the whole season in New York.

Chisholm has also played solid third base since joining the Yankees, a position he has never played before. It will be interesting to see how he fares down the stretch this season and in a potential playoff run in the Bronx.