Jazz Chisholm Jr. likes to trash talk.
That should be abundantly clear by now. After all, the third baseman functioned as a quote machine during the Yankees’ ALDS victory over the Royals.
First, Chisholm said Kansas City “got lucky” when it stole a Game 2 win at Yankee Stadium. Then he doubled down on social media after Aaron Boone tried to walk the claim back on an off day.
That made Chisholm Public Enemy No. 1 at Kauffman Stadium for Games 3 and 4. Royals fans relentlessly booed the chatty 26-year-old, much to his delight.
“I loved every single second of it,” Chisholm said after the Yankees won Game 3. “I ain’t never see nobody boo a bum.”
Chisholm added another doozy after the Royals’ Maikel Garcia slid hard and late into Anthony Volpe in Game 4. Volpe reacted with a hard tag and a forearm to Garcia’s neck, but benches didn’t clear until Chisholm started chirping at Garcia on Volpe’s behalf.
“I just felt like he tried to go and injure Volpe because he was being a sore loser,” the colorfully candid Chisholm said after the Yankees secured a spot in the ALCS with a 3-1 win.
It’s hard to imagine someone like Derek Jeter ever issuing statements like the ones Chisholm rattled off throughout the ALDS. Yet the former Yankees captain, reserved and evasive when it came to bulletin board material, offered some guidance for the oft-trolling Chisholm when the two crossed paths in Miami.
Jeter served as the Marlins’ minority owner and CEO from 2017-2022. With the five-time World Series champion running baseball operations, Miami acquired Chisholm from the Diamondbacks for Zac Gallen in 2019.
Chisholm made his debut the following season. The childhood Yankees remained in Miami, where he was sometimes perceived as brash, until the Bombers acquired him this past July.
While Jeter didn’t stick with the Marlins through the end of Chisholm’s tenure there, the two had chances to connect. That relationship is now helping Chisholm in his first playoff run with the Yankees.
“It was great,” Chisholm said of picking Jeter’s brain. “Being a Yankee in the playoffs now, I take all that into consideration. There’s a lot of guys that didn’t have that leadership and mentorship, and I got it. And now that I’m here, I remember a lot of words from him.”
Jeter and Chisholm share more than just personality differences, especially this time of year.
Jeter is the all-time postseason leader in games played, plate appearances, hits, total bases and doubles. While he also leads in strikeouts, he additionally ranks in the top-10 for triples, home runs, RBI, walks and stolen bases. He hit .308 over 158 playoff contests.
More importantly, Jeter owns enough rings to fill an entire hand.
“All he talks about is winning,” Chisholm said. “He doesn’t care about stats. He doesn’t care about his hits. All I heard Jeter talk about is, ‘Hey, if you ain’t winning, you ain’t doing nothing.’
“The only thing that matters in the playoffs is winning the game. So if you don’t get any hits, you better make all the plays on defense or get on base and steal all the bases you can and score all the runs you can.”
Chisholm said all that after a pedestrian ALDS performance.
While his words created headlines, he hit just .133/.188/.333 with two hits, one homer, one RBI, three strikeouts and a stolen base. Chisholm went hitless in the last two games as hostile Royals fans unloaded on him.
Even that lack of production yielded a confident comment, though.
“I’d go to war with these guys, any day,” Chisholm said as the Yankees celebrated their Game 4 win with champagne. “They introduce me like I’m the fucking little brother they always wanted. And I feel like I’m the little brother they always wanted.
“I know I didn’t produce much in the series, but these guys made me feel like I did the world.”
Now a .115 hitter over seven career playoff games, Chisholm has some time to improve his stats, even if Jeter told him, “Your numbers don’t matter” in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Yankees have enjoyed the swagger he’s brought to the team.
“It’s been great,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “Popping homers left and right, is a sparkplug on the bases, turning singles, walks into doubles, triples. He’s been and will continue to be huge for us.”
After two early postseason exits with the Marlins in 2020 and 2023, Chisholm has never been to the ALCS. He’s looking forward to his first — and the opportunity to be more than just a trash talker.
“It feels amazing, man, especially to be here with these guys,” Chisholm said. “I wouldn’t want to trade it for the world.”
