NEW YORK – Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham is all-world defensively. His range in the outfield is second to none and he’s won two Gold Gloves in 2020 and ’22.  

But entering the 2025 season, Grisham, 28, knew he had to change his vibe in the batter’s box.  During the previous three seasons, he had a slash line of .191/.293/.353 while averaging 120 strikeouts. In ‘24, his first season with the Yankees, Grisham could go days at a time without seeing much action. The outfield was set with Aaron Judge patrolling center field while Juan Soto was the man in right. Don’t forget that Alex Verdugo saw most of the playing time in left field. 

 

 

Trent Grisham’s New Mind State Has Led To Career Revival With Yankees 

But talk to Grishman and he will tell you that lack of playing time had nothing to do with his inconsistency at the plate. It was a matter of changing his mindset when he had the bat in his hand. Grisham realized that failure is part of baseball, and he couldn’t let it get the best of him. As he put it, “Those negative thoughts are not going to produce good play on the field.”        

“The last two or three years, I got into a bad spot, a bad cycle of thinking. I came to realize it needed a change if I wanted to have a good career. That was kind of the basis of it,” Grisham said.  “I put in a lot of the leg work last year and into this [past] offseason. It’s coming to fruition.”

Soto and Verdugo are no longer members of the Yankees, while Judge is back in his normal position in right field. Grisham is now getting most of the reps in center field this year and is taking advantage of the situation. Entering Friday’s action against the Athletics, Grisham had a slash line of .292/.376/.640 with 10 home runs – which surpassed last season’s totals of nine – and 20 RBIs.

“Trent is obviously a good defender, but he does two things really well [as a hitter]: He has that pull power and he controls the strike zone,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He is in a really good frame of mind to where he has a real specific plan. 

“He is in a good place mentally. He goes up there and looks for his pitch. There is calm and patience in which he plays the game. It serves him well. Look, I think what we are seeing is very real. I feel like, with his experience now, the mental game he is playing now is really strong.”

It has to be that way because Grisham is a free agent at the end of the season.   

“No bad days mentally. I’m just staying with it and putting everything in perspective,” he said.