With a quick and vicious flick of his bat, Chisholm sent a first-pitch cutter from Baltimore Orioles left-hander Dietrich Enns soaring over the right field wall at Camden Yards, a two-run home run that served as a crucial moment in a key, late-season game.
It was also Chisholm’s 30th home run of the year, earning him just the third ticket into a most exclusive Yankees club – the 30-30 plateau.
Chisholm, 27, joins Bobby Bonds and Alfonso Soriano – who accomplished the feat twice – as the lone Yankees to hit at least 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a single season.
That it came in the Yankees’ 4-2 loss to Baltimore on Sept. 19 took some of the sheen off the accomplishment, as New York could have moved within two games of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East with eight games remaining.
In the bigger picture, though, it marks a key career juncture for a charismatic player who was an All-Star at 22 yet whose ceiling could not be fully realized until a July 27, 2024 trade from the Miami Marlins to the Yankees – who don’t reach last year’s World Series without him.
For Chisholm, it’s definitely a symbiotic relationship.
‘I feel like it’s boosted my career in 100% of different ways,’ he says of the deal that made him a Yankee. ‘The winning mentality, the winning atmosphere, the way everybody in the front office to the training staff wants to win is how I felt like I grew up playing baseball and what I needed to be around to be even more successful.’
Chisholm has reached what’s largely regarded as the peak age for major league athletes, yet also figures to get stronger and add weight to his 5-foot-11, 184-pound frame as he ages. Which begs the question: Is 40-40 in the offing someday?
‘I think I’ve been saying that since I was a rookie,’ says Chisholm. ‘I definitely think 40-40 is achievable with a full, healthy season.’
Even with baseball’s liberalized stolen-base rules, Chisholm’s accomplishment remains special: The only other big leaguer to reach 30-30 this season was his old teammate, Juan Soto, who decamped from the Bronx to Queens in signing a $765 million contract with the Mets.
Chisholm might not see that kind of scratch when he hits free agency after the 2026 season, but his growth is evident. He looked out of place at third base with New York last season, but a move back to the middle infield returned him to All-Star status.
He’s racked up 4.1 WAR, his 30 steals and homers and .816 OPS coming in just 121 games, missing all of May due to an oblique strain and getting restricted from stealing bases after a June 10 groin strain.
‘Thirty-thirty invokes a lot of things and certainly lines up with his skill set,’ says Yankees manager Aaron Boone. ‘But the fact he’s done that missing a month of the season, not running for parts of the year, just a peek into what a good player he is.
‘He’s moving the needle and getting better as a player. I feel like I’ve really started to see him control the zone better, which will hopefully allow him, as he continues on in his career, to become more of an on-base threat, which with his speed will only help him.’