Infield Shuffle

BY KEVIN KERNAN

The Yankees have a most stubborn group of all-knowing Nerds in their front office.

There really is not any other kind, to be truthful.

But even the Nerds had to finally admit – and they only admit through their actions, not their words – that they had Jazz Chisholm in the wrong position, playing third base and not second base.

It is plain to see to anyone who knows baseball that Chisholm is a middle infielder, not a third baseman. I mentioned this in my “Lost’’ column here at BallNine last week and what do you know, the Yankees finally moved Chisholm off third base to second base as they came around with a resounding 10-3 win over the always middle of the pack Mariners, who are able to hide their many warts year after year because no one really pays attention to them – and being stuck in the mindset that offense doesn’t really matter.

The Mariners are a mediocre 16th in the majors in batting average with an ugly .247 mark, 15th in runs and 13th in RBIs. They are eighth in home runs because of the incredible year Cal Raleigh (36 home runs and a 1.029 OPS) is having. He is the sequoia tree in their balsa wood offense, just like the one giant sequoia that can be found on the campus of the University of Washington.

So, with that kind of offense visiting the Bronx, it was an easy move to put Chisholm back at his normal position.

The Yankee Nerds only made the change when Jazz couldn’t make the throws from third to first anymore because of shoulder pain.

As a top talent evaluator noted to me on Wednesday, the Yankees misplayed their hand when they decided that Anthony Volpe would be the shortstop.

Geez, who knew that it is much more difficult to make throws from third base than second base? Especially in this age of MLB when a good amount of the time the third baseman is shaded deep in the hole toward shortstop. So, in addition to the long throws across the diamond, there are different angles to contend with – but the Nerds, as I often say, think anyone can play anywhere in the major leagues because they never played anywhere.

I call it the Nerd Shuffle.

So, with the Mariners in town, it is time to ease Jazz back to the middle. Jazz in the Middle. D.J. LeMahieu is DFA done, so the Nerds could not go there at third, and good old Oswald Peraza was stuffed into the bag to play third.

The development, or lack of development, of Peraza is another case study in ineptitude in the Yankees organization. He came into Wednesday’s action carrying the burden of a .157 average and the fact that he was not able to succeed at his more normal position shortstop.

As a top talent evaluator noted to me on Wednesday, the Yankees misplayed their hand when they decided that Anthony Volpe would be the shortstop.

“Peraza should have been the shortstop and Volpe was much better suited to play second base,’’ he said. “That should have been their shortstop-second base combo for years to come.’’

Nope. Nerds wouldn’t have it that way. They had to reinvent the wheel, so Volpe became the hard-headed shortstop trying to hit home runs, while Peraza came to realize the Yankees were messing with him and he lost his confidence across the board. Hopefully, Peraza’s career can be salvaged.

The scout also pointed out the Yankees misread the tea leaves on Volpe way back in AA-ball. “Somerset is a Little League park,’’ he explained.

In 2022 Volpe hit 18 home runs in AA.

As a result, the Yankee Nerds thought they had a home run hitting shortstop. The number the Nerds should have been looking at was the 31 doubles that 2022 season.

They should have focused on Volpe hitting line drives into the gaps and I’m sure some people in the organization were trying to get Volpe to go in that line drive direction on an everyday basis, but ego is a powerful thing.

Volpe has 70 hits this season, 10 home runs, 21 doubles, and three triples. Volpe the shortstop needs to hit more singles. He has a .293 on base percentage.

I remember in the spring of 2022 a scout telling me then that the Yankees wanted the 20-year-old Volpe to be their starting shortstop and were setting him up for that situation.  And if you remember at the end of 2022, Peraza came up for the Yankees and showed well, hitting .306 in 49 at-bats. But by spring training of 2023 Volpe was the Yankees shortstop.

“How do you jump the kid that is behind the kid who has already performed,’’ the scout said looking back at the situation.

Good question. It happens in baseball. Not just the Yankees. Volpe did win a Gold Glove in 2023 but hit only .209. He batted .243 last year and this year is muddling along at .217, so over his first three years he is hitting .225 with 413 strikeouts over 1501 at-bats.

Volpe must make more contact. Peraza did not respond to the situation of losing the shortstop “battle” and is hitting .177 since 2023 in only 317 major league at-bats with 95 Ks.

When such situations develop, and again, this happens on a lot of teams, loss of confidence creeps into a player’s mindset, the scout said, “A player can start doubting himself looking at the situation, saying, “He’s in the big leagues and he is hitting only .220. I probably could have done that.’’’

Scouts have told me that Volpe has gotten a little more heavy-legged, too, kind of like what happens to second basemen, not shortstops.

So, there is a lot going on here in the Yankees infield, but at least Jazz is now where he belongs at second base. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out; now that the Yankees are no longer playing Make Believe with Jazz telling him he is a third baseman and not a second baseman.

Clearly, Jazz, calling himself “a complete player,’’ was jazzed by the move, and it is always good for a player to be playing a position that is more suited to his talents, a place where he will not injure his arm making the kind of throws, and the angle of throws he had never been making in his baseball life until moving to third, including when the Marlins Nerds stuck Jazz out of position in centerfield.

I hate to simplify the subject, but Nerds have to be told what the real game of baseball is about on a constant basis. And the amazing thing about that, they are still condescending to anyone who has the gumption to question anything they do, that’s why so many people in organizations remain silent.

I’m hearing a lot of veteran players, especially pitchers, are getting tired of all this and hopefully for the good of the game they will begin to speak up. I started hearing this about two months ago and I will say this, one of those veteran pitchers is on a team that has changed its approach recently and is having success doing more baseball things. There is hope.

“There has to be more common sense in baseball,’’ the scout said.

Common sense is the sixth tool.

Just look at some of these wild Keystone Kops plays we are seeing on an everyday basis. Too often the game is resembling Banana Ball – not baseball. And don’t get me wrong, I love my Banana Ball and was the first to write about the Banana Ball explosion way back in September of 2020 here at BallNine – where no one could fathom the Savannah Bananas selling out major league ballparks and football stadiums, but back then lead Banana Jesse Cole told me those grand plans were in the works.

At the time, I had a fear that Major League Baseball was heading into a Banana Ball future because in many cases the inmates were running the asylum, and the Nerds were focused too much on non-baseball things. I remember a longtime Braves player development man telling me the Braves were heading for big trouble because they were no longer teaching the things that made the Braves successful, commanding the baseball and putting the ball in play, which was a must in the Bobby Cox Era.

This baseball man had the gumption to question the Nerd hierarchy on why everyone was pretty much swinging the same – out of their ass – on all the fields of the Braves complex and not focused on putting balls in play and was bluntly told in condescending fashion, “We are not doing that here anymore.’’

How’s it working out for you Braves?

When I looked at the standings on Wednesday, the Braves were a humiliating 31-51, 13 games back of the Mets in the NL East. They were only ahead of the pitiful Nationals who just fired their GM Mike Rizzo and their manager Dave Martinez.

Evidently, the “We are not doing that here anymore,’’ is winning.

A final word on the Yankees, a good move would be to text the Rockies (who calls anyone anymore) and make a deal for third baseman Ryan McMahon. McMahon, 30, is hitting only .210 with 12 home runs. His lefty swing would benefit being in Yankee Stadium and so would his baseball soul after playing his entire career for the Rockies.

And McMahon would not cost much because we all know the Yankee Nerds will not trade any of their top tier of prospects. Bringing in a real third baseman to play third, instead of having a second baseman or a shortstop play third, is a good baseball thing.