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Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwayAfter losing seven of their past nine games entering Sunday's home matchup against the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees sought inspiration from one of the team's former stars to end the slide.
"I think [former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter] just had a graduation speech the other day that we watched," Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. told the media Sunday. "He said it before in front of a thousand people, and he always says it, 'That you're gonna fail. You're always gonna fail.' You know it's just how you bounce back or how you cut it off."
Jazz Chisholm Jr. says the Yankees watched Derek Jeter's recent graduation speech where he talked about bouncing back from failure: pic.twitter.com/QH3lZtLKGY
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 22, 2025Jeter gave the commencement speech at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, on May 3. Chisholm clearly took it to heart.
In the bottom of the second inning Sunday, he scored off a single from Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu despite losing one of his cleats while running. (Orioles backup catcher Maverick Handley left the game after the collision with the infielder.)
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Chisholm crushed a 96 mph four-seam fastball from Orioles relief pitcher Bryan Baker to center field, sending first basemen Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt home. The two-run double gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
DJ drives home Jazz pic.twitter.com/rmjopBqJTs
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 22, 2025Jazz kept his cleats on for this ride pic.twitter.com/wjF02wulyz
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 22, 2025New York scored another run when Orioles catcher Gary Sanchez dropped a throw from shortstop Gunnar Henderson, allowing Chisholm to slide across home. That would help secure a 4-2 win for the Yankees, who improved to 45-32.
Despite the team's struggles, Chisholm has been on a tear since returning from a right oblique strain. In his first 56 at-bats in June, he slashed .339/.415/.536. Against the Orioles on Sunday, he went 2-for-4 at the plate.
"Jazz is a spark all the way around," Yankees relief pitcher Will Warren said in a postgame news conference. "Today, we were calling him Barry Sanders (the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back) with the two collisions at the plate. But no, he can do it all. ... It's nice to have him in the lineup."
With the Jeter speech seemingly spurring Chisholm, he could keep providing the juice the Yankees need to end their rut.
Dalton is a 2022 journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He gained experience in sports media over the past seven years — from live broadcasting and creating short films to podcasting and producing. In college, he wrote for The Daily Texan. He loves sports and enjoys hiking, kayaking and camping.
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