Jonathan Dyer, Eric Canha and Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

The long weekend was a particularly rough one for center fielders in the AL East. On Saturday, the Yankees’ Trent Grisham landed on the injured list with a Grade 2 strain of his right hamstring, and then on Sunday, both Luis Robert Jr. of the Orioles and Ceddanne Rafaela of the Red Sox joined him on the sidelines, the former due to a low-grade left hamstring strain and the latter because of a right quad strain. Their absences could have some impact as the teams jockey for position in the AL Wild Card race, where Baltimore’s chances have taken a major hit due to a recent six-game losing streak.

The most serious injury is that of the 29-year-old Grisham, who left Friday’s game against the Padres at Petco Park in the middle of the third inning. Reportedly, he initially felt tightness in his hamstring while being thrown out trying to steal second base in the top of the second, after drawing a leadoff walk against Padres starter Walker Buehler. In the bottom of the frame, he got a very late jump on a bloop by Xander Bogaerts that landed for a two-out RBI single, the game’s first run. After the inning, the YES Network broadcast showed Grisham in the dugout talking to Michael Schuk, the team’s director of sports medicine and rehabilitation, who then followed him into the clubhouse.

Right fielder Spencer Jones shifted over to center to replace Grisham, with Heliot Ramos entering the game in right. Both wound up figuring in the Yankees’ 3-2 defeat, when Jones led off the top of the 10th inning with an RBI single but was thrown out trying to steal third base as Ramos swung through an 88-mph slider from Mason Miller for strike three. The Yankees ended up losing when Luis Campusano hit a walk-off two-run homer off Paul Blackburn in the bottom of the 10th.

It’s been a rough year for Grisham, who previously missed three weeks in late June and early July with a strain in a different area of his right hamstring. Coming off a season in which he set career bests with 34 home runs, a 128 wRC+ (.235/.348/.464), and 3.1 WAR, he returned to the Yankees by accepting a $22.05 million qualifying offer, but this season has looked a lot more like the rest of his sometimes-frustrating eight-year career. He’s hit .211/.308/.395 (98 wRC+) with 18 homers while adjusting his swing path in an attempt to trade power for contact, with his swing tilt and attack angle both decreasing:

Grisham’s changes, which include a wider stance, with his feet an average of 26.8 inches apart (up from 22.1 last year and 16.8 in 2024) and a shorter swing, have helped him square up the ball more frequently and cut his strikeout rate (from 23.6% to 18.4%), but he’s not hitting the ball as hard:

Notably, Grisham has cut his whiff rate against four-seamers (from 20.4% to 13.0%), but his average exit velocity against them has fallen (from 95.5 mph to 93.6), as have both his batting average (from .254 to .218) and slugging percentage (from .527 to .435). Some of that might be bad luck, as his xSLG against four-seamers has fallen only from .573 to .545 and his xwOBA from .404 to .400, but it’s resulted in a 14-point drop in Statcast run value (from 12 to -2).

Meanwhile, Grisham has again struggled on defense. In 2024, his first year with the Yankees, he was average or better according to the metrics (3 FRV, 0 DRS) in 485 1/3 innings, but he slipped to -3 FRV and -11 DRS in 1,133 innings last year and then -5 FRV and -8 DRS in 961 1/3 innings this season. Overall, he’s been worth just 0.7 WAR.

Manager Aaron Boone acknowledged that Grisham “could be out” for the rest of the regular season. “We’re not putting a timetable on it right now,” Boone said. “Keep him moving and see how long it takes.” Teammate Cody Bellinger recently returned after missing four weeks due to a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring; at the time he was injured, the estimate was a four-to-six-week absence. Notably, he hasn’t started in center field since coming back on August 23. Jones has started four games in center since Bellinger’s return, including the two since Grisham was sidelined. The 25-year-old rookie has now logged more time there than Bellinger this season, with 18 starts and a total of 169 1/3 innings; in that limited sample, he has -1 FRV and -1 DRS.

Jones placed sixth on the Yankees Top Prospects list in March with a 45+ FV. With injuries to Bellinger and Aaron Judge giving him an opening, the 6-foot-7 lefty has made some encouraging progress at the plate in recent months. After starting his career 4-for-24 during a 10-game stint in May, he’s up to .246/.320/.447 (113 wRC+) with nine homers in 223 plate appearances, albeit with a 35.9% strikeout rate. If he continues to show he can handle center field, he may prove to be an upgrade over Grisham and could carve himself a spot in next year’s lineup.

While Jasson Domínguez was initially called up to replace Grisham, the 23-year-old switch-hitter is likely to be optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the near future, as Judge — who has been out since May 31 due to a stress fracture in his right first rib — was activated ahead of Tuesday night’s game, filling the roster spot of Elmer Rodríguez, who had been optioned on Sunday. The return of the three-time MVP could represent a massive boost for the Yankees, who have collectively hit just .227/.295/.385 for a 90 wRC+, second worst in the majors, since he went down. Thanks to their run prevention, the Yankees have kept their heads above water nonetheless, going 45-39 in his absence. Overall, they’re 81-62, four games behind the Rays in the AL East, with a two-game lead on the Red Sox (80-65) for the top Wild Card spot. New York also owns the tiebreaker between the two teams because of a 7-6 season series advantage.

Speaking of Boston, after playing in 135 of the team’s first 140 games, Rafaela sat out the first three games of the club’s series against the Orioles at Camden Yards before being placed on the IL ahead of Sunday’s finale. The move was backdated to September 3, with the Red Sox optimistic that the 25-year-old center fielder would be available on September 13. “That’s my expectation,” said interim manager Chad Tracy on Sunday. “Obviously, he has to go through running stuff next week, and you don’t know how he’s going to respond to that… But the way he’s progressing right now, that’s my expectation.”

Rafaela is enjoying a breakout season, having made his first All-Star team in July. While bopping 16 homers and stealing 17 bases, he’s slashing .282/.317/.443, a significant step forward from last year’s .249/.295/.414; his wRC+ has improved from 93 to 108. He’s done that despite not hitting the ball as hard as he did last year, when he gained 24 points of slugging percentage and 11 points of wRC+ relative to 2024, his first full season in the majors:

Rafaela’s expected batting average has been about the same as last season, though his actual mark has improved by 33 points. Meanwhile, even as his expected slugging percentage has fallen by 58 points, his actual slugging percentage has risen by 29 points. Some of that may owe to his 90th-percentile speed, but one way or another, his 85-point SLG-xSLG discrepancy ranks fifth among all qualifiers, and his 48-point wOBA-xwOBA, third.

Rafaela, who won his first Gold Glove last year, has again been stellar defensively, leading all center fielders with 20 DRS; his 15 FRV is a distant second to Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 26, but it’s still enough to bump him to 3.9 WAR, tied with first baseman Willson Contreras (who’s also on the IL, with a left hamstring strain) for the team lead. With Rafaela sidelined, the Red Sox have used Eli White in center field for five straight games, during which he’s gone 7-for-20 with a double and a home run; his three-run second-inning shot off Kyle Bradish on Sunday provided Boston with all the scoring it needed in a 3-1 win. Acquired from the Braves on August 3 in exchange for reliever Tyler Uberstine, White is slashing .251/.295/.404 (92 wRC+) this year. He’s not as good a defender as Rafaela, but he’s still been about average in 114 innings in center field.

Contreras could be back as soon as Friday, with Rafaela possibly just a couple of days behind him. With Roman Anthony recently activated after missing nearly four months due to a torn tendon in his right ring finger, Tracy has the option of using him in left and bumping Jarren Duran over to center, though Duran’s offense has been so bad this season (.204/259/.365, 67 wRC+) that White appears to have the advantage. Either way, assuming Rafaela doesn’t suffer any setbacks, his absence shouldn’t be a major problem for the Red Sox, who have a seven-game cushion ahead of the Guardians for the third Wild Card spot.

The Orioles, who finally won on Monday to snap a six-game losing streak that knocked them below .500, are three games out of that third spot, at 70-75. They were hoping that Robert, whom they plucked off waivers from the Mets on August 31, could help by upgrading a position where they’ve gotten an 85 wRC+ and less than 1.0 WAR, but he played just three games for them before landing on the IL with what was initially described as left hamstring discomfort but has since been diagnosed as a low-grade strain.

Alas, the injured list is an all-too-familiar spot for the 29-year-old Robert, who spent nearly three months (April 27 to July 20) sidelined by a herniated lumbar disc and has played in just 61 games this season. For all of the injuries he’s dealt with during his career — enough that he averaged just 104 games from 2021–25, topping 110 games only once while making nine separate trips to the IL — he’s in danger of finishing with fewer games played than in any of those seasons. He hasn’t been particularly good when he’s been on the field, but his .221/.300/.407 (97 wRC+) is a bit better than what Colton Cowser (.215/.306/.368, 93 wRC+) and Leody Taveras (.216/.290/.346, 81 wRC+) have provided, with his center field defense (2 DRS, 2 FRV in 399 1/3 innings) falling between the two; Cowser has been very good, Taveras not so much. Robert has also played 73 2/3 innings in left field, his first major league taste of that position.

The Orioles are hopeful Robert can return this month, though manager Craig Albernaz hardly sounded definitive in discussing his prognosis. “It’s how he bounces back and how he’s going to recover,” said the manager on Sunday. “Hearing the injury and talking with him, hopefully he’s back [in September].”

Since Robert went down, Baltimore has started Cowser in center field twice, with Rece Hinds, a righty-swinging 26-year-old whom the team called up from Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday, starting once. A 2019 second-round pick by the Reds, Hinds is on his third team this season, having played 12 games for Cincinnati and one for Miami. He was traded from the Reds to the Marlins on May 21 in exchange for righty Zach McCambley, then dealt to the Orioles for cash considerations on August 3. In 140 plate appearances over the past three seasons, Hinds has hit just .186/.243/.434 (81 wRC+), while at the Triple-A stops of those three teams this season, he’s batted .263/.356/.488 (120 wRC+).

In picking up Robert off waivers, the Orioles had to anticipate the possibility that he might again find his way to the IL. They took on about $2.9 million in remaining salary for this season, plus either a $20 million club option or a $2 million buyout for 2027 — not a huge risk. Before the Orioles make a decision on his option, they’ll have to reckon with their fading postseason hopes. While they’re “only” three games out of the third Wild Card spot, they have the Guardians (73-72), Blue Jays (72-73), and Rangers (71-73) to surpass, with our Playoff Odds giving them just a 5.3% chance of doing all that, down from 25.4% before they lost six straight.

All told, while these injured center fielders present inconveniences to their teams, it’s not all that likely they shake up the playoff picture. The Grisham injury could have the biggest impact given the potential timeline for his return, but with Jones playing well, and with Judge returning, it might work out just fine for the Yankees.