How Trent Grisham went from a salary dump in the Juan Soto trade to one of the Yankees’ most valuable hitters

Coming into 2025, the New York Yankees had never once in their history started a game with a back-to-back-to-back home runs. They’ve now done it twice in a month. The Yankees ambushed Nestor Cortes for three homers on three pitches in March 29. On Tuesday night, they hit three homers in five pitches against Kyle Gibson in his first start with the Baltimore Orioles (NYY 15, BAL 3).

“I definitely haven’t seen anything like it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Tuesday’s game (via MLB.com). “It’s hard to wrap your head around that.”

Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Ben Rice did the honors in that order against Gibson on Tuesday. It was Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Judge against Cortes back on March 29. Here are Tuesday’s game-opening back-to-back-to-back blasts:

Bellinger took Gibson deep later in that first inning. It’s the second time in franchise history the Yankees hit four home runs in the first inning, joining that March 29 game against Cortes. Rice added a second home run later in the game. After bulking up in the offseason, Rice is hitting .278/.387/.611 with eight home runs while filling in at DH for the injured Giancarlo Stanton.

“It really starts with Grish. Grish got it going for us,” Judge said after Tuesday’s game (via MLB.com). “It gets you going. It’s just kind of like, ‘Hey, I’ve got to go up there and try to do my job.’ It takes a little weight off everyone’s shoulders when Grish goes out there and does that. It was good.”

Grisham’s home run was already his third leadoff homer of the season, and his eighth home run overall. He went deep nine times all of last year, which he spent as New York’s defense-first fourth outfielder. Grisham played well when Stanton got hurt last summer (.786 OPS in June and July), though he started only 52 of 162 games, and did not get off the bench in the postseason despite being on the roster for every round.

Acquired as the other guy in the Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres, Grisham has been close to a 1 for 1 replacement for Soto this year, slashing .294/.368/.662 in front of Judge and forcing his way into the everyday lineup. He’s already started 17 games this season. Last year, his 17th start came on June 8, in the Yankees’ 66th game. Play well, and you’ll play more.

With the caveat that Grisham (probably) won’t maintain a 1.030 OPS all season, there are reasons to believe his production is real, rather than an early season fluke. He’s always posted above-average exit velocities, contact rates, and plate discipline numbers. Few hitters in the sport chase out of the zone less than Grisham, and his hard contact ability is in the top 15% of the league.

What has changed this year is his batted ball direction. Grisham is getting the ball in the air more, specifically to right field, and pulling the ball in the air is the best way to hit for power. Here are Grisham’s last few years:

Launch angle sweet-spot is the percentage of batted balls in the 8-32 degree launch angle range, which is optimal. Below that and you’re hitting ground balls. Above that and you’re hitting the kind of fly balls that don’t leave the park, and instead hang up long enough for the outfielders to make a play. The 8-32 degree range are those nice line drives that often go for hits and homers.

Grisham is living in that sweet-spot range much more than last year and he’s also pulling the ball in the air a ton, which plays well everywhere and especially for a left-handed hitter in Yankee Stadium. Add in a 7.1% swinging strike rate (i.e. whiffs per pitch) that is well below the 10.9% league average, and you have the recipe for a productive hitter. Contact, exit velocity, good launch angles.

That is not to say Grisham, who hit .191/.300/.347 as an everyday player with the Padres from 2022-23, will continue to do this all season. He could stop pulling the ball as much, turn a few line drives into pop ups, etc. It’s more an acknowledgement that his early season production has been deserved. He’s making a lot of good contact and being rewarded.

On top of the offense, Grisham is also a terrific defender who won Gold Gloves in center field with San Diego in 2020 and 2022. Even when he doesn’t perform at the plate, he’s worth keeping in the lineup for his glove alone. And now that he is performing at the plate, it’s basically impossible to take Grisham out of the lineup. He does too many things to help his team.

The Yankees have four outfielders for three spots: Bellinger, Grisham, Judge, and Jasson Domínguez. Judge is never coming out of the lineup, so it’s really three outfielders for two spots. Grisham was expected to again be the fourth outfielder this season, though he has played his way into full-time status. That leaves one outfield spot for Bellinger and Domínguez.

Rice is hitting too well to take out of the lineup, so the DH spot is tied up, as is first base, where Goldschmidt has been a pleasant surprise with a .363/.411/.460 slash line. Putting, say, Domínguez at DH some days and Bellinger at first base other days is not something the Yankees can easily do. Well, no, it is easy to do, but it’s not something they want to do.

Again, Judge isn’t coming out of the lineup, so Boone must juggle five players (Bellinger, Domínguez, Goldschmidt, Grisham, Rice) between four lineup spots (center field, left field, first base, DH). On Tuesday night, it was Domínguez who drew the short straw, and was on the bench. Against O’s lefty Cade Povich on Wednesday, it could be Bellinger, or maybe even Grisham.

Too many hitters deserving of playing time is a good problem — “problem” — and the sort of problem that will solve itself before long. Someone will get hurt, someone will stop performing, whatever. Baseball has a way of taking care of these things. For now though, the Yankees have more good hitters than lineup spots thanks largely to Grisham and Rice being so much better than expected. 

The Padres insisted the Yankees take Grisham as a salary dump in the Soto trade, and after serving as an unremarkable fourth outfielder in 2024, he’s become a lineup mainstay in 2025. He’s crushing the ball and the underlying numbers say the production is deserved, not a fluke. After being what amounts to trade throw-in, Grisham couldn’t be working out much better for the Yankees.

“I’ve been in a good spot mentally, just staying in the present and keeping going,” Grisham said earlier this month (via the New York Post). “My swing felt really good during spring but I would (attribute) it mostly to the mental work I’ve been doing over the past year.”