Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s preseason talk of becoming a 50-50 player seemed far-fetched at the time, but now it’s worthy of being labeled as a freezing-cold take. 

The Yankees’ infielder, coming off a 30-30 campaign last season, is having the worst year of his career, slashing .216/.295/.396 (.690 OPS) with 17 home runs, 47 RBI, and 30 stolen bases.

“It’s super frustrating when you know your abilities, and you go out there, and you go in the cage and work every day,” Chisholm said. “It’s just not coming together in the game. We just have to keep on going and push through it.”

He is 2-for-his-last-23 over his last seven games with 10 strikeouts. He also has only one home run in his last 14 games.

“I’ve been feeling OK [at the plate],” he continued. “Hit it hard, get out, sometimes not even make contact. But every day, just trying to grind it out and make things happen for the team.”

Extra time in the cage has not yielded much in terms of results, though Chisholm said that he is focused on “just staying through the ball up the middle,” and “keep hitting line drives.”

But his struggles have only put more pressure on a shorthanded Yankees offense that has been pedestrian without the likes of Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. Aaron Boone’s men have been limited to three runs or fewer in eight of their last 10 games.

“I think all year, [he’s] just struggling to really get dialed in,” Boone said of Chisholm. “He’s never had that real hot streak, which he’s certainly capable of. We’ve seen over the last couple years, where it’s two, three, four weeks of impactful damage, speed, getting on, things like that.”

Luckily for the Yankees, they play in a significantly weaker American League, which guarantees enough time for Judge and Bellinger to get back and fine-tune things for the postseason. Even with the surging Boston Red Sox coming out of nowhere to get within a game-and-a-half of their perch in second place in the American League East, they have a seven-game cushion in the Wild Card standings over the Texas Rangers, who currently sit in that third and final postseason spot. 

“We have a chance to be a really good club here at the most important time,” Boone said. “But we also know that we’ve got to improve offensively to be that complete team.”

For more on Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the Yankees, visit AMNY.com