Trent Grisham really enjoys hitting in Yankee Stadium. After a career year, in which he smashed 34 home runs, Grisham agreed to take the team’s qualifying offer Tuesday.
With the move, Grisham, 29, returns to the team on a one-year, $22.025 million deal in 2026.
Little was expected of Grisham heading into the 2025 MLB season. He was coming off three straight seasons with batting averages below .200. And while his bat offered some pop, Grisham was also coming off three straight seasons with a slugging percentage under .400.
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After hitting .214, with four home runs, in spring training, Grisham made the Yankees’ roster as backup outfielder and defensive replacement. He was used in that exact manner during the team’s 4-2 opening day win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
After sitting on the bench for the Yankees’ first five games, Grisham finally got his first start during an April 3 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went 3-for-4 with a home run in the contest, and it proved to be a harbinger of what was to come for the previously written-off outfielder.
Grisham turned in a phenomenal first month of the season, slashing .292/.370/.639, with eight home runs, in April. After starting the year on the bench, Grisham suddenly found himself hitting leadoff for the best offense in baseball.
Grisham couldn’t fully sustain that early momentum, but finished the first half with a .251/.353/.464 slash line.
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While his batting average slowed down in the second half, he maintained everything else. Despite hitting just .216 in the second half, Grisham posted a .342 on-base percentage and a .463 slugging percentage over that stretch.
Those figures combined to give Grisham a .235/.348/.464 slash line on the year. That was good for a career-high 125 OPS+ — an advanced stat that measures a player’s offensive contributions. Grisham’s 34 home runs were double his previous career-high of 17.
Grisham, a lefty, definitely took advantage of the short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium in his walk year. The veteran outfielder would have posted lower home-run totals in nearly every other park, the only exception being the Sutter Health Park, where the Athletics will play until their Las Vegas stadium is ready.
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But Grisham wasn’t completely reliant on the short porch. He also posted career-highs in barrel rate and exit velocity. Both figures were likely fueled by a faster bat speed and fast-swing rate. Despite swinging faster, Grisham controlled the bat better. He made contact at a higher clip on pitches both inside and outside the zone, allowing him to extend at-bats to take walks or drive mistakes out of the park. His swing was geared to crush fastballs — and he did to the tune of a .272 average and a .577 slugging percentage — but he also improved both metrics on breaking and offspeed pitches as well. He made legitimate improvements last season, as evidenced by the fact that he would have hit a career-high number of home runs in 2025 regardless of where he played, per Baseball Savant.
Because of that, the Yankees offered Grisham a qualifying offer once free agency hit. While few players accept qualifying offers, Grisham apparently felt good enough about the team, the money and his situation to re-up with the Yankees for another year.
This story will be updated.
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