Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Earlier this week, we asked Yankees fans about the biggest surprises on the team thus far in 2025, focusing on a possible glass-half-empty take. Although the four players mentioned in our poll—first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, designated hitter Ben Rice, center fielder Trent Grisham, and starting pitcher Carlos Rodón—each had the potential to be good entering the season, they had all clearly exceeded expectations. So who did the people say was most in danger of regression?

The pick turned out to be be pretty clear: Mr. Grisham.

Kyle Thele

A strong majority of respondents chose Grisham, and it honestly tracks. He began 2025 as the fourth outfielder with Jasson Domínguez, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge expected to form the primary starting trio from left to right. It was a similar role that the two-time Gold Glove winner had last year, his first in pinstripes, and he struggled to find a rhythm at a plate amid scant starts as Alex Verdugo played over him.

This time, however, Grisham took advantage of his occasional looks in center and forced the issue of getting more playing time. He hit .294/.374/.651 with 12 homers and a 1.025 OPS through his first 35 games, already topping his home run total from 2024 and on pace to pass his career-high within weeks. Once considered an afterthought, Grisham was building an All-Star case.

Yankees fans were thrilled to see Grisham contributing like that, but they’ve also seen how much he’s slumped in the past month. From May 14th onward, he’s hit .179/.324/.238 with just one homer. Although Grisham is still putting in decent at-bats and working walks, the regression monster has come for his overall output.

So it’s no shock to see Grisham take this poll. Goldschmidt is cooling off from his own scorching start, but it’s likely more reasonable to expect at least decent work from the former All-Star than Grisham, who had never hit this well before. The same goes for Rodón in a pitching sense. As for Rice, he’s an up-and-comer who did a lot of work in the offseason to bulk up for his second year in the majors, and he’s still on the right track. If the survey just featured those three players, it’d be interesting to see who was most uncertain from a fan perspective, but with Grisham involved, he was the understandable choice for most.

Grisham’s abilities in center will continue to give him semi-regular looks in the starting lineup, especially with the rookie Domínguez only delivering league-average production at the plate. Any higher expectations of Grisham’s offense will likely have to be recalibrated — if they weren’t already taken with a grain of salt.

These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.