Jazz Chisholm Jr. faces second base scrutiny as a Royals vet makes bold Ernie Clement claim

The Toronto Blue Jays made it to the World Series this past year partly because of their lineup depth. The middle of their offense was steadied by second baseman Ernie Clement, who managed 30 playoff hits, setting a new postseason record.

During their run to the World Series, they faced the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, beating them in four games. Jazz Chisholm Jr., the Yankees' 2B, hit 2-for-14 during the series

Despite that, Sports Illustrated's Yankees beat writer Joe Randazzo felt that Chisholm deserved to be higher than Clement on a list ranking the current top infielders in the middle of the diamond on his X account on Sunday.

"Jazz Chisholm should be two. Maybe one, if you consider he didn’t abandon his team as Marte did," he wrote. "Ernie Clement will be in Korea in two years, so why is he even here?"

Kansas City Royals veteran Whit Merrifield didn't take kindly to Randazzo's opinion on the 6ix Innings Stretch podcast on Wednesday with Lindsay Dunn. The analysts called Randazzo's statement as biased and disrespectful. Merrifield critically evaluated Chisholm's player profile.

"I think Jazz is a really good player, or I should say I do think he's a good player, but I think he's really talented," Merrifield said. (4:50) "There's a lot of his game that he's not getting the most out of. From a hitting standpoint, he loses a lot of what he could be as a player because he tries to hit a home run every at-bat, it seems like, at least from the times I've gotten to watch him. "He's very nonchalant at second base. He's a good defender, but he's very nonchalant. He led all second basemen in errors this year, and he only played there not even a hundred games."

He stated that Clement's defense certainly set him apart from Chisholm and even gave him the same pedestal as someone like Ketel Marte.

"Having said that, if I'm writing the lineup, Ernie's my second baseman if I got Jazz and Ernie on the same team," Merrifield added. "And that's going off 2025. We're not comparing careers here; we're comparing right now. "I don't know if there's a second baseman out there I would take over Ernie right now to be honest with you."

Clement has finished two full seasons with Toronto, hitting at .271 with 21 home runs and 101 RBIs and recording a 7.7 bWAR. He has also averaged the best putouts and assists per innings played in each of the last two seasons for other American League second basemen, with a 2.82 and 2.84 range factor per nine.

Ernie Clement and Jazz Chisholm Jr. direct trade swap proposed by MLB writer

Clutch Points' Garrett Kerman had proposed a hypothetical trade in his column on Dec. 17, between the Blue Jays and the Yankees that involved Jazz Chisholm Jr. moving to Toronto in exchange for Ernie Clement, Joey Loperfido and left-hander Rickey Tiedemann.

“For Toronto, this move is about acquiring a ceiling-raiser,” Kerman wrote. “While Ernie Clement developed into a fan favorite and a reliable .277 hitter in 2025, and Joey Loperfido showed flashes of brilliance in his first full season with the club, neither possesses the MVP-caliber upside of Chisholm. The Blue Jays’ lineup has often felt one-dimensional—reliant on station-to-station power."

The trade proposal came around the time when there was serious talk of the Yankees listening to offers for Chisholm, as reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan, earlier in December.

Edited by R. Nikhil Parshy