The old saying goes, “What you see is what you get.” And you’ll find few players who fit that mold, few more authentically themselves, than Yankees center fielder Trent Grisham. Chill, laid back, calm? All of the above. Grisham’s demeanor on the diamond is no mask; it’s a mirror, reflecting exactly how he is off the field.
“He’s awesome; he’s unique. He’s Grish,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone from his office ahead of a mid-August road trip. “He’ll be on the plane tonight with his cowboy boots and a hat, and just that easy way about him. Real laid back, but a real good competitor, too, who thinks really well between the lines. He’s a smart, instinctive player, but real laid back; just a really good dude in the clubhouse and away from baseball.”
It helps to be calm in the kind of situations in which the 28-year-old Texas native has found himself during the 2025 season.
Take, for instance, Aug. 9, when the Yankees and Astros were tied, 4-4, in the bottom of the eighth inning. With legends from dynasties past in the house for Old-Timers’ Day, the left-handed Grisham entered the batter’s box with the game on his shoulders.
“We need a run here,” said former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, who was a guest on the WFAN radio broadcast.
Ask, and you shall receive.
Grisham delivered the go-ahead, eventual-game-winning home run into the second deck in right field a split-second later. It was the kind of moment that could get a reaction out of even the calmest player, with Grisham letting out a roar toward the home dugout and a toss of his bat.
“It felt good,” Grisham said several days later. “It’s been well-documented that we’ve struggled a little bit over the last month, month and a half, so any time you can help a team win when you’re going through something like that, it feels good.”
That is just one snapshot of the impact Grisham has had on this Yankees team. With a career high in home runs already set and his reliability as a defender still holding true, Grisham is showing no signs of slowing down.
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Arriving in the Bronx in a December 2023 trade with the San Diego Padres that was highlighted by the Yankees’ acquisition of Juan Soto, Grisham joined the team initially as the fourth option in the outfield. While playing time would be sporadic in 2024, coaches still believed in what Grisham could bring to a Yankees team that would ultimately win the American League pennant.
“I thought he was going to have a really big role last year,” Boone said. “I expected him to play a lot more, but we were remarkably healthy. Giancarlo [Stanton] went down in August, missed a month, and that’s really the only time he got some regular play, and he played well.”
When given the opportunity, Grisham produced better than his statline indicated. While his overall batting average was .190 for the season, Grisham posted a .256 average in the month of June with a .590 slugging percentage and four home runs in 46 plate appearances. In the final month of the 2024 season, he hit .286 in 14 plate appearances with a pair of homers and a .714 slugging percentage.
But while 2024 offered small previews of what was to come for the veteran, openings in the outfield heading into 2025 meant the Yankees were going to rely much more heavily on him. With his eyes set firmly on playing an even bigger role on the team, Grisham knew he would have to get off to a strong start this season.
“I knew I’d have to play well to get a bigger role, so I had planned on doing that -- play well,” Grisham said with a smile. “It’s nice to see how it’s come to fruition.”
Grisham began the first month of this season by helping the Yankees fill in for an injured Stanton once again, crushing eight home runs through the end of April while hitting over .400 in his first 30 plate appearances. That early power display also provided motivation for a squad that is consistently among the league’s long ball leaders.
“Seeing him come out and hit the eight homers, he was hitting over .400, he was doing his thing, it was pretty cool to see early on because all that does is help everybody else around him,” said Yankees captain Aaron Judge. “It helps me hitting behind him. All right, well he’s getting on base, he’s doing his thing … Now it makes my job a little easier. So, when you’ve got a guy like that who can do things for you and improve your team like that, it’s special.”
Grisham clubbed five more homers in May, and he has eclipsed his previous career high of 17 home runs with 30 dingers as of Sept. 5. But just hitting those homers is not what has made Grisham’s season so special. It was when he hit them.
According to Stathead’s Katie Sharp, counting the go-ahead shot against Houston, 16 of Grisham’s first 21 homers (76%) had either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead -- the highest percentage among all players with 10-plus home runs as of Aug. 9.
His prowess at the plate comprises an ability to read pitches; his 57 walks were second in the Majors among center fielders and tied for eighth among all outfielders. Hitting .247 through Aug. 18, Grisham said one of the biggest changes this season has been an adjustment in mindset.
“I’ve just been thinking a lot better this season as opposed to years in the past where I would have let different little failures throughout the year kind of derail the season and derail my thinking,” Grisham said. “I think I’m just more committed to my process this year.”
Along with power hitting, Grisham has been able to move around the lineup and provide protection to the other Yankees hitters, appearing as a leadoff hitter at times but also batting .393 in 34 plate appearances from the seven hole, through Aug. 18.
Through that same date, Grisham was leading all American League center fielders in on-base percentage by 12 points at .352, which was also good enough for second in the Majors among all center fielders and 10th among all outfielders. His .803 on-base plus slugging percentage was third among all center fielders in the Majors.
“I think he’s been one of the best outfielders in the game this year, period,” Boone said. “Outstanding center fielder first and foremost, but then he’s just a really good at-bat all year. He’s just been real consistent, even through stretches where he’d have a downturn or whatever -- which is inevitable with hitting. It’s still a quality at-bat, controls the strike zone, gets on base, is a tough at-bat even against lefties.”
Grisham credits one thing for how he has been able to find success this season: Perseverance.
“I’ve endured a lot of bad times to get to the good times,” he said. “I think that’s a big part of this game that no one talks about. Not everything comes easily to everybody, so I would say being able to endure a lot of failure, a lot of hardship, to get to a little bit of good.”
What Grisham has always been known for, other than that chill demeanor and even more so than his clutch bat, is defense. A two-time Gold Glover, Grisham has made invaluable contributions as a center fielder. He has been a player teammates know they could lean on and depend on in the outfield.
“I’ve learned so much from him because he’s one of the best outfielders that I’ve seen with my own eyes,” said rookie left fielder Jasson Domínguez. “He’s always trying to help me in the outfield, with plays, with situations, with everything. He’s one of the guys that helped me the most this season.”
In team sports, communication is key, capable of being the difference between winning and losing. It’s Grisham’s ability to communicate in the outfield and make heads-up plays that have been essential.
“I haven’t played next to a guy like that in a while,” Judge said. “It just seems like he’s always in the right spot. They give us so many scouting reports on where guys hit balls that you can kind of get lost out there a little bit, but he does a good job of reading the swings. He can read what the pitcher’s doing. He has an understanding of how they’re going to attack guys, so he’ll be like ‘Hey, I’m going to move over this way,’ or, ‘Move over that way.’
“He’s incredible, man. The communication we have on a daily basis is pretty good.”
The Yankees’ manager agreed with the reigning AL MVP, pointing to Grisham as an excellent communicator and leader in the outfield.
“He’s done a really good job of just kind of captaining the outfield, where you want your center fielder to communicate really well,” Boone said. “I think him and Aaron and Jasson and Cody [Bellinger] have done a really good job with that this year, just really communicating. And that’s something that Grish brings to the table as a Gold Glover. He’s got a real good way about him out there and a real calming presence to him, too.”
While what happens after the ball is put in play is naturally important, everything that goes on before the ball is pitched has been key to Grisham making himself into a defensive stalwart.
“That’s always what I’ve kind of prided myself on, is figuring out how to get good reads, get good first steps, be decisive on where I’m going,” he said. “But that comes with a lot of hard work.”
It only motivates Grisham further knowing that his teammates and coaches feel they can depend on him.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “That’s something you want to be known as. You want to be known as a good teammate, a guy within the locker room that other guys can rely on, so it means a lot to me, hearing my peers speak about me in that way.”
Having reached new heights as a hitter while continuing to prove that he is among the league’s best defenders, Grisham has absorbed a lot of lessons this season. But overall, he has learned that no matter what -- through the highs and lows -- you have to keep pushing and not let yourself get derailed. A calm demeanor and confident mindset have taken him a long way thus far, and he hopes to keep both going in 2025 and beyond.
“The more I look around, I see the big leagues is a war of attrition in every way,” Grisham said. “In a single season, in a career; individually, collectively as a team -- it’s just about keeping going.”
Robert Hudson is a publications assistant with Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the September 2025 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.