Jazz is back, baby! Star follows decisive HR with clutch catch

MIAMI -- The MVP chants began in the latter innings of Tuesday night’s 4-2 Marlins victory over the Giants at loanDepot park.

That’s because center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.was putting on a show for the debut of the Jazz Band, a supporter section located in outfield sections 34-36. Not only did the 25-year-old belt the go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth, but he also robbed Mike Yastrzemski of extra bases in the eighth.

So which of his game-changing plays was Chisholm more happy about?

“The over-the-shoulder grab for sure,” said Chisholm, who entered Tuesday in the 91st percentile for outfielder jump. “Honestly, I can't really remember the route. That was just a blacked-out moment where I just put my head down and just started running for the ball. Honestly, I saw the ball hit and I literally said, ‘I can't catch this ball.’ And I just went, and by the time I got to the ball, it was still in the air. So that's all I got on that.”

It has been well-chronicled that Chisholm volunteered to move to center in order to pave the way for Miami to acquire 2022 American League batting champion Luis Arraez. After some growing pains in Spring Training and early in the regular season, Chisholm looks comfortable.

And it appears as though Chisholm’s bat is beginning to warm up. His slash line of .242/.309/.435 with one double, one triple, three homers and eight RBIs doesn’t compare with his production through his first 17 games of 2022: .310/.354/.667 with three doubles, three triples, four homers and 15 RBIs en route to an All-Star selection. His 39.1% K rate is among the worst in the Majors. His Statcast numbers are down across the board -- from average exit velocity to hard-hit percentage.

Several factors could be playing into Chisholm’s slow start. Seventeen games is a small sample size. Plus, he didn’t appear in a game last year after June 28. That’s a long time to go without facing live pitching in situations that matter.

“He has to just trust the process, and I think that's what he's going to have to grow into, and I think he is growing into,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “If you go 4-for-4 or 0-for-4, just trust your process, don't change something drastically just because you had one or two bad days. He's a super athlete. He's so quick that he's one of the only guys that I've ever been around that you have to actually slow him down because he's so quick and so twitchy. Nobody really has that.

“He's going to be just fine. Big home run. Obviously the ball in the gap was huge that he ran down. You guys all saw him in Spring Training to now. We're only two weeks in and he's running down stuff both to the gap and in getting really good jumps. All the metrics are showing it. What a difference even from the first game to now. Just like [Jorge] Soler could carry you, Jazz can do the same thing. And when both those guys are going then, we're doing OK.”

Schumaker moved the left-handed-hitting Chisholm (.633 career OPS vs. southpaws) from the leadoff to the sixth spot in the order with lefty Alex Wood starting. But Wood exited in the third inning with a left hamstring strain, so Chisholm came to the plate with runners on the corners against right-hander Jakob Junis.

After taking a slider in the dirt, Chisholm lofted a middle changeup off the Bacardi facade in right-center.

“You just hit the learning curve,” said Chisholm, who went 1-for-3. “Beginning of the season, I wasn't hitting the changeup. Today, I hit a homer [off] a changeup. Yesterday, two hits on changeups. It's just the learning curve. That's why it's like the ‘don't panic’ button.”

With the victory, Miami has won six of its last seven games. The club is two games over .500 for the first time since May 2, 2022, when it was 12-10. The Marlins are 2-5 against the Mets and 8-3 against everyone else so far this season.

“[Chisholm's] been swinging the bat great the last couple of games,” said Jacob Stallings, who finished 1-for-3 with a run. “I’ve got to give him so much credit. He has completely bought into what the hitting department's telling him approach wise. Even though he wasn't getting results early, I thought his intent was really good. And you can see that he's trying to do the things that I think and the hitting guys think will just take him to that next level. So it's nice to see him get results the last couple of days. He's a guy that obviously can carry our team like today.”