Yankees Jazz Chisholm Jr. bails on ball with broken bat flying his way: Dont want to die

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.CLEVELAND — Jazz Chisholm Jr.

has given up his body to make some sparkling plays on defense this season.On Monday night, he bailed on a soft liner hit to second base because there was something more concerning flying his way out of the corner of his eye: a broken bat.The play turned into an RBI single for Brayan Rocchio in the Yankees’ 6-4 loss to the Guardians at Progressive Field, but Chisholm was not second-guessing himself.“That’s a tough one,” he said.“I want to make every play out there for my guy, but at the same time, you don’t want to die.You got a sharp object coming your way.

I’ve seen guys get stabbed with broken bats in person, so I know how bad the injury can be.The toughest thing to do as a baseball player right now is to stay on the field.

So at the same time, we got to protect ourselves when we’re playing out there, especially when stuff like that is happening.”Chisholm is speaking from experience, having been hit in the calf by a broken bat when he was playing shortstop at High-A.He also said he has seen it happen to other fielders when he was with the Marlins.A similar play happened this weekend in Tampa, when Aaron Judge hit a broken-bat grounder to third base and the Rays’ Junior Caminero did not field it because the shard of wood was flying his way.“That’s why I’m a little bit more cautious about going after balls when the bat’s in the same lane,” said Chisholm, who later crushed a two-run homer, his seventh of the season.The phone call did not end with Aaron Judge getting credited with an eighth home run.But other than that, Aaron Boone seemed to appreciate his phone call with Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, on Monday to express his frustration with umpires (and a subsequent crew chief review) calling Judge’s deep fly ball Sunday a...