Whether or not Cody Bellinger returns to the Bronx in the new year, the Yankees are still projected to have one of the best outfields in baseball in 2026.
FanGraphs' current Depth Chart projections for next season have the Yankees outfield combining for 12.3 Wins Above Replacement in 2026, the most valuable of any team ahead of the Padres (11.6), Braves (10.5), Mariners (10.1) and Cubs (9.5).
That's in large part due to Aaron Judge, of course, who you can pencil in for another MVP-caliber season. But it's also because of Trent Grisham.
What's interesting is how much of a different player Grisham is than when he arrived in New York two years ago. When the Yankees got Grisham in the Juan Soto trade, he profiled as an elite defensive outfielder who could maybe slug a timely home run for you. Now, as he enters his third season with New York after accepting the one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer for 2026, Grisham is a top-tier slugging outfielder who can maybe play a little defense.
Grisham's newfound home run power, not his former Gold Glove defense, is what's powering his over fourfold increase in salary from 2025 to 2026. His career-high 34 home runs last season ranked seventh among all outfielders, behind only Judge (53), Soto (43), Jo Adell (37), Riley Greene (36), Taylor Ward (36) and Byron Buxton (35).
For the first time, the vast majority of Grisham's value came from his bat and not his glove. And Grisham is in position to keep slugging homers in 2026, because he's transformed his hitting profile to maximize his power.
See, Grisham has always been a fly ball hitter. But he wasn't always the same type of fly ball hitter that he's become. Now he's much more of a pulled fly ball hitter. And pulled fly balls go over the fence a lot easier, especially for a lefty playing at Yankee Stadium.
Grisham was one of seven left-handed hitters with at least 25 pulled home runs last season. The Yankees had three of those hitters -- Grisham, Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Most pulled HR, LHH, 2025
- Kyle Schwarber: 39
- Vinnie Pasquantino: 30
- Cal Raleigh: 29
- Cody Bellinger: 27
- Trent Grisham: 26 (77% of total HR)
- Jazz Chisholm Jr.: 26
- Pete Crow-Armstrong: 26
This was the first time Grisham really tapped into that skill set. He'd never had more than 12 pulled home runs in a season before 2025.
In his career, Grisham has hit close to 60% of his batted balls in the air, which is a lot, and he tends to hover around that number most seasons. That's why he was always able to at least pop double-digit homers as a Padre. But over the years, he's been able to change the direction of those batted balls.
Grisham pulls the ball more every year. And he pulls the ball in the air more every year.
Grisham's pull rate, last 5 seasons
- 2021: 38.5%
- 2022: 43.5%
- 2023: 43.8%
- 2024: 45.6%
- 2025: 47.8%
Grisham's pulled airball rate, last 5 seasons
- 2021: 16.1%
- 2022: 18.7%
- 2023: 19.1%
- 2024: 20.0%
- 2025: 23.5%
You could see the changes Grisham was making right from the jump last season, and he carried them through his career year.
Grisham now pulls nearly half of all the balls he hits, and nearly one in four balls he hits is both pulled and in the air, which is the easiest recipe for home runs.
The increase in his overall pull rate is being driven entirely by more balls pulled in the air, too. He's not pulling any more ground balls than he used to, which would just be outs. His extra pulled contact is all of the more damaging variety.
Five years ago, Grisham was in the bottom half of Major League hitters when it came to pulling the ball in the air. Now, he's inside the top quarter.
If you look at Grisham's spray charts from season to season, you can see the shift in where his damage is coming.
First, there's the broader shift of Grisham's hits from the opposite-field side to the pull side. Second, there's the shift of his hits deeper to right field, as he's tapped into his pull-side home run power with the Yankees.
Grisham doesn't need to be Judge, an elite all-fields power hitter with the size, strength and raw bat speed to crush home runs to every part of the stadium. He has the patient approach to pick out the balls he can drive in the air to right field and get his home runs that way.
As long as he keeps doing that, Grisham will be in for another strong slugging season for the Yankees in 2026. And that means the Bronx Bombers' powerful outfield -- which led the Majors with 112 home runs last season -- might well be in for a repeat.