Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. owes a great deal to his grandmother, Patricia Coakley
Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. gestures to fans before an MLB game against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Jasrado Hermis Arrington Chisholm Jr. — also known by his nickname “Jazz” — arrived at Yankee Stadium on Friday night to make his home debut.
Before the Yankees began a three-game series against the Blue Jays, Chisholm — who is from Nassau, Bahamas — was asked about the derivation of his full name.
“I don’t know the history,” Chisholm said. “My grandma made it up. Me and Dad have the same name, so it’s just my grandma made up a name and she just rolled with it.”
Chisholm’s grandmother, Patricia Coakley, played shortstop for the Bahamian national softball team and was his first coach.
Chisholm said some of his family members, including his brother and stepfather, were able to make it to the Bronx on Friday night.
Chisholm wowed the Yankees in his first four games (one in Boston, three in Philadelphia) after getting acquired from Miami. He had a pair of two-homer games, went 7-for-19 (.368) in four victories and played third base for the first time as a professional.
Manager Aaron Boone also made his debut as a Yankees third baseman on the road after getting acquired from the Angels at the trade deadline in 2003. Boone then made his home debut as a Yankee on Aug. 5 and went 0-for-3 in a victory over Texas.
Asked what he remembers from that day, Boone said: “I remember walking down the tunnel into Yankee Stadium and seeing Joe DiMaggio’s quote on the wall [“I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee”] and then walking down the tunnel and walking out on the field, and it was like you certainly understand it’s hallowed ground that you’re walking on. You know the history that has unfolded in our sport in this area now with two stadiums. I was very aware of that.”
Cole on track
Gerrit Cole threw a bullpen session on Friday and should start against Toronto on Sunday. He missed his last start with general body fatigue.
Asked by reporters how his bullpen session went, Cole said, “Good.”
Asked if he expected to start Sunday, he said: “Yeah.”
Asked what he needed to feel in his bullpen session, he said: “Better.”
DJ’s day off
One game after driving in all six runs in the Yankees’ 6-5 victory over the Phillies on Wednesday, DJ LeMahieu was on the bench against Toronto righthander Kevin Gausman with Chisholm at third and Ben Rice at first.
“I feel like hopefully Sunday is something to build on for DJ,” Boone said. “It was really good to see. I thought he had three really good at-bats where he got three really good swings off . . . But other guys have earned opportunities as well and Rice has been doing such a good job for us. I certainly deliberated on it a little bit.”
The right stuff?
The Yankees activated reliever Enyel De Los Santos after acquiring him in a trade with San Diego on Tuesday. The 28-year-old righthander was 1-2 with a 4.46 ERA and one save in 44 games.
“I really love the depth that he adds,” Boone said. “This guy’s a good pitcher. He’s had a lot of success against righthanded hitters, so I feel like with Jake Cousins, [he’s] another guy that’s going to be really tough for us on righties, so hopefully we can get them in good matchups.”
This season, De Los Santos has allowed identical .250 batting averages to righties and lefties, but lefties have crushed him for a 1.012 OPS vs. .777 by righties. He has allowed 11 home runs in 40 1⁄3 innings.
Extra bases
Aaron Judge’s 477-foot two-run blast in the first inning Friday night gave him 34 homers and 82 RBIs in his last 74 games and 40 homers and 101 RBIs with 51 games remaining . . . The Yankees outrighted OF/INF Jahmai Jones to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and released J.D. Davis. Both had been designated for assignment . . . The Yankees announced that they signed 19 of their 20 selections in the recent MLB Draft. The exception was 20th-round pick Cole Royer, a high school pitcher from Georgia who is going to attend Georgia Tech.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
