Jazz Chisholm Jr. found a way to keep Aaron Judge’s bat in the Yankees’ lineup.
After being held hitless by the Red Sox in each of his first three plate appearances on Sunday, the slugging infielder decided to make a change when he stepped to the bat rack.
Chisholm grabbed Judge’s 35-inch, 33-ounce bat instead of his own and ended up clubbing the first pitch he saw to deep right-center for a three-run homer.
It was his eighth blast of the season, and put the 6-1 victory out of reach.
“I was swinging and missing when I thought I was hitting the ball,” Chisholm said. “Sometimes you just need a little more weight and a little less on your swing.”
This isn’t the first time the lefty slugger has borrowed Judge’s bat.
Chisholm used one to homer off a position player in his second game as a Yankee, but also tore his right oblique after swinging too hard with the heavier lumber last April.
This time around, he knew he needed to just keep things simple.
“When I pick up his bat I know I can’t swing as hard as I can, or else I’ll tear an oblique like last year,” Chisholm said. “It helps to be able to just control the barrel, and just try to touch the ball instead of trying to hit it so hard.”
Chisholm’s dipped into most of his other teammates bats too, aside from Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton.
While Stanton’s bat is too difficult for him to swing, he of course, wore the injured slugger’s pants in an effort to break his slump at the plate late last month.
With Sunday’s homer, Chisholm is hitting .306 with 11 RBI and a .918 OPS over his last 19 games.
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