KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jazz Chisholm Jr. seems to have avoided another major injury setback, though a growing list of minor ailments continues to frustrate him.
The Yankees third baseman did not play in Thursday’s match against the Royals after he exited Wednesday’s game in the fifth inning due to tightness in his left groin.
He practiced pregame fielding at third base and thought he might be an option off the bench for the 1-0 victory, but the medical staff designated him as “emergency only,” manager Aaron Boone commented following the game.
“I would expect him to either start or at least be a player off the bench [on Friday],” Boone said.
Still, Chisholm believes that coming out of the game when he did Wednesday allowed him to avoid a more serious injury.
But it was the second straight game he had to leave early — Tuesday’s was less avoidable as he had neck tightness from colliding with Maikel Garcia’s knee on a dive into third base — after missing all of May with an oblique strain.
Chisholm has landed on the injured list at least once in each of his past five seasons after breaking into the big leagues in 2020.
“I was very upset [Wednesday],” Chisholm said. “That’s [five] seasons in a row, more than [five] injuries in the last [five] seasons. So it kind of sucks, and it’s frustrating. And I feel like I do everything the right way. I have trainers on and off the field. I get massages on and off the field. Healthy diet, chef, everything you can possibly do off the field, I feel like I do.
“So it kind of gets frustrating, especially when you think you’ve prepared so well for a game and you go in there feeling good, feeling loose and something like that happens. But it’s part of it.”
“So it’s just a little bit frustrating when you keep getting hurt when you feel like you’re doing everything in your power to stay on the field. As a kid, I might stay up a little bit later and not hydrate my body as well. But as an adult, I feel like I’ve understood it, six seasons in now. I drink eight bottles of water a day. Literally, all I do is drink water all day. I take all my supplements, everything.
In a change of plans, Giancarlo Stanton played a third straight rehab game Thursday night with Double-A Somerset, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Boone said the Yankees still had not decided what would come next for the DH, including whether he might join them in Boston this weekend, though he seems unlikely to be activated Friday after playing three straight days.
The Yankees also released left-hander Brandon Leibrandt from his minor league contract so he could sign with the CTBC Brothers Baseball Club in the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
The 32-year-old had pitched to a 2.85 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) at SWB.
