Jazz Chisholm Jr. made his debut for New York Yankees on Sunday, and the flamboyant star delivered a memorable moment to mark the occasion. The 26-year-old tripped while running on the basepaths in the closing stages of the game. He later gave a humorous re-enactment of the fall to his teammates in the dugout, which drew a big smile from captain Aaron Judge.
A short video of the incident was posted by ESPN on Instagram, which has generating interest among baseball fans:
The New York Yankees faced the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday for the final encounter of their three-game series. The Yankees were ahead by five runs in the top of the ninth inning when Gleyber Torres stepped up to the plate with Jazz Chisholm Jr. standing on first base.
Torres pulled a pitch to the third baseman, who made an accurate throw across the diamond to get the groundout. Meanwhile, Chisholm rushed out aggressively from his station as he intended to move from first base to third on the ground ball play. However, he tripped his right foot just as he stepped on second base and smashed his face against a Red Sox infielder in the process.
The collision brought Jazz Chisholm crashing down to the floor, but he recovered quickly despite taking a fairly hard blow and carried on with the game. He proceeded to steal the open third base despite his team leading comfortably in the game before scoring the final run for his team on a single from Anthony Volpe.
Before the final inning was over, Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave a lighthearted re-eactment of the collision to his new teammates in the dugout. His dramatization struck a chord with Judge, who couldn't resist grinning at the hillarious act.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. could spark the Yankees out of their slump
The New York Yankees traded their three prospects to the Miami Marlins in exchange for Jazz Chisholm Jr. on Saturday to add some much-needed speed and offensive production.
Before this acquisition, the Yankees had a 10-21 record since June 19 due to a lack of output besides Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, with Giancarlo Stanton on the sidelines.
Chisholm is batting .249/.323/.407 for the season with 101 OPS+, which is roughly the same as most of the Yankees hitters. However, his energy on the field and exuberance with which he plays every game could rub off on the rest of the team, especially when their morale is low, as it has been for the past few weeks.