Jazz Chisholm Jr. prioritizing health entering 2024

Jazz Chisholm Jr. knows he hasn’t been healthy for most of his Major League career.

He also knows what he could be if he actually plays a full season.

“When all the hitters start to get hot in the season, it's in the summer,” the Marlins center fielder said. “I haven't even played in summer yet. Like, I've never played in the summer.”

For the most part, that’s true. While battling through turf toe and a left oblique strain in 2023, Chisholm only played in 97 games, missing most of May, June, and July. 

In 2022, Chisholm’s season ended in late June after 60 games when he suffered a stress fracture in his lower back. He also underwent surgery on his right meniscus that September. Prior to that, Chisholm was slashing .254/.325/.535 with a 138 OPS+. His 14 home runs at that point had him on pace for roughly 37 bombs over a 162-game season.

“If I play 160 games, I have the same numbers as a lot of guys out there,” Chisholm said. “Just to add it up. As far as me being in the big leagues, I haven't even had a hot stretch yet.”

Chisholm played six games last year in between his two IL stints, against the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves. In those late June/early July series, he went 8-for-23 with two home runs, two doubles, and five RBI.

Unfortunately for Chisholm, arbitration-eligible MLB players get compensated for production rather than potential. He and the Marlins were unable to settle on a 2024 salary figure and had to go an arbitration hearing. The Marlins won. The 26-year-old will earn only $2.625M this season, a number that certainly would've been higher had he avoided the IL altogether.

He told Fish On First his main focus over the offseason was getting his body healthy and aiming to play 160 games.

“For me, it's just: if I stay healthy, I know what I can do,” Chisholm said. “I know the type of player I am. Every time I stayed healthy, even through the minor leagues, if I stayed healthy and didn’t have a hot stretch, I was still hitting 25 homers.”

Chisholm’s contributions last year went beyond what he could do offensively. After the Marlins acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade prior to the season, Chisholm was moved to center field—a position he had never played in as a professional—so Arraez could take Chisholm’s original fielding spot.

Through some growing pains in spring training, Chisholm actually looked serviceable manning the outfield. According to Baseball Savant, Chisholm recorded four outs above average, which was in the 87th percentile of fielders. This is even more impressive when considering this is a cumulative stat, and Chisholm played less than 100 games out there. 

"It's night and day from (the first day of camp) last year,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. 

Schumaker warned that fielding fly balls in spring training, battling high skies and wind, is difficult, and much shouldn’t be made on what his first reads look like this early in the calendar.

“If you can catch a fly ball in Florida in spring training, you can catch them anywhere,” Schumaker said. “So I don't really put a huge emphasis on his jumps in spring training. However, just watching him do his drills is—I mean, it's not even close to where he was at.”

Chisholm’s turf toe, which required surgery at the end of the season, was caused by him colliding with the outfield wall at loanDepot park. Chisholm said he’s spoken to current and future Hall of Famers in outfielders Ken Griffey Jr. and Mookie Betts over the past year about how to balance the desire to go all out on each play while also staying healthy.

“Griffey was hurt a lot in his career because he wanted to go all out,” Chisholm said. “So just to learn that it's a business. You’ve got to stay healthy, and that's the only way you're gonna stay in this business, is staying healthy.”

Noah Berger contributed to this report.