CHICAGO — Just 14 games into a difference-making New York Yankees debut, Jazz Chisholm Jr. is facing the possibility of season-ending injury.
According to manager Aaron Boone, his lefty-hitting third baseman is likely headed to the injured list due to an unspecified UCL injury.
‘To what extent, we’re still kind of working through,” said Boone, who could not dismiss the chance of Chisholm having to undergo a season-ending surgery.
Chisholm underwent an MRI on Tuesday. X-rays taken Monday night came back negative.
‘We’ll see what the extent of it is, and what the next several days are like, but I don’t know that,” Boone said prior to Tuesday night’s game against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
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As to the possibility that Chisholm suffered a UCL tear that would require Tommy John surgery to his non-throwing arm, Boone said: ‘I’m not going to speak until all the doctors have weighed in on it. I just know it’s a UCL injury.
‘So, we’ll see what we have here over the next 24 hours.”
Since arriving via trade from the Miami Marlins on July 27, Chisholm made an immediate impact with his power-speed element, batting .316 average with seven home runs and 11 RBI.
Chisholm’s seven homers in his first 12 games as a Yankee established a franchise record.
Plus, his exuberant personality and the joy he exhibited in playing the game was viewed as a needed energy boost for a club that had lost 23 of its last 34 games upon his arrival.
‘He’s been really impactful for us, and hopefully this is something that’s a shorter period and we can get him back and rolling,” said Boone. ‘Certainly, tough to not have him in there.”
Chisholm was listed with the Yankees reserve players for Tuesday’s game and will remain with the team for now, according to Boone, while awaiting further medical opinions.
In Tuesday’s lineup, switch-hitting Oswaldo Cabrera was at third base, batting eighth, with DJ LeMahieu on the bench against a right-handed starter and Ben Rice starting at first base.
Boone suggested that an infielder would be summoned soon from the minors, with Oswald Peraza in consideration, and ‘we’ll kind of mix and match and see what makes the most sense.”
Rehabbing from a calf strain, following a setback, right-handed hitting veteran infielder Jon Berti is at Tampa, Fla., and could begin a minor league rehab assignment in ‘the next week or so,” said Boone.
