Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight: Time to Panic with Jazz Chisholm Jr?

Entering the 2022 fantasy baseball season Miami Marlins’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. was an intriguing option for fantasy baseball managers looking for power and speed at the second base position  In many preseason fantasy baseball player rankings, Chisholm looked like a fantasy baseball draft day value coming off an 18 home run and 23 stolen base season in 2021. However, throughout Major League Baseball’s spring training, there were some concerns with Chisholm in terms of where he was hitting in the team’s lineup, and his limited exposure to left-handed pitching. Some of those concerns have carried into the early part of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. Patience is a virtue, and this is most certainly the case in fantasy baseball, but with every roster spot being so valuable, we need to ask the following question: How worried should we be about Jazz Chisholm? Is he shaping up to be a fantasy baseball bust or one of the more intriguing fantasy baseball trade targets?

Spoiler alert: The answer is NO. He is absolutely not a bust. We are just four games in. However, the level of concern on the concern-o-meter is inching up ever so slowly. Let’s take a look at these issues one by one to determine what’s worth worrying about.

Is Hitting Eight or Nine Fine for Chisholm Jr.?

This isn’t the issue to be more concerned about. You can live with this to a certain extent. Sure, he loses out on some at-bats hitting eighth or ninth compared to first or second, but it doesn’t affect his ability to run, and he’s still going to have the better guys in the lineup hitting behind him. Miami has been deploying Jorge Soler at the leadoff spot, so if Chisholm gets on, that’s a great guy at the top to bring him around.

On the other hand, I certainly won’t argue that it’s disappointing, especially when you consider how often he hit in the top third of the order. Take a look at the breakdown here:

• ABs hitting 1st or 2nd: 384 ABs
• ABs hitting elsewhere: 93 ABs

So far in 2022, through four starts, he’s hit 8th twice, and ninth twice. Not ideal, but it’s early, and perhaps Miami is just contemplating different lineup configurations. Miami has yet to run out the same lineup twice this season, so that is worth noting.

Is Chisholm Sitting Against Lefties Right?

This one is a bit odd to say the least. It’s almost as if Chisholm was abysmal against lefties in 2021. Did he set the world on fire? No, but he hit .237 with a .389 slugging percentage, and his numbers against lefties last year adjusted to 162 games comes out to a .237/.282/.389 slash line with 17 home runs, 56 RBI and 21 stolen bases. Now, where I won’t argue with you is that his 33.3 percent strikeout rate and 4.7 walk rate against southpaws present some concern.

Chisholm didn’t start the team’s first game against a southpaw this year in favor of Jon Berti. What’s interesting about that? Let me show you the numbers between Chisholm and Berti against southpaws:

Courtesy of Fangraphs

No wonder Chisholm was frustrated on Twitter last Saturday. Too soon?

The strikeouts and propensity to whiff against southpaws is a major cause for concern, and Chisholm needs to get this in check. Take a look at his whiff percentage by zone against lefties in 2021, courtesy of Baseball Savant.

In six at-bats against lefties in spring training, Chisholm went just 1-for-6 with three strikeouts, and last night, he went 0-for-2 with two flyouts against Patrick Sandoval.

Eventually, the cream always rises to the top, and Miami will let him in there against lefties to essentially “figure it out.” He’s too talented to be on the bench, and while he may find himself on just the strong side of a platoon early on in 2022, it’s only a matter of time until he’s the everyday player like he was last season.

If a manager in your fantasy baseball league is panicking over Chisholm’s start, I would absolutely be looking to buy “low” on the 24-year-old middle infielder.

Statistical Credits:

baseballsavant.mlb.com

fangraphs.com