Jazz Chisholm Jr. joins rare Yankees company with 30-30 season

BALTIMORE — When the Yankees acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. prior to last year’s trade deadline, general manager Brian Cashman pointed to the fact the versatile Chisholm was “obviously very athletic and he plays the game with joy.” 

Both traits were on display — albeit in a losing cause — in Friday’s 4-2 loss to Baltimore at Camden Yards, when Chisholm became the first Yankee since Alfonso Soriano in 2002 and ’03 to join the 30-30 club. 

On Friday, Chisholm took lefty Dietrich Enns deep in the top of the seventh for his 30th home run of the season. 

The second baseman also has 30 stolen bases. 

“I wish it came in a win, but it’s great,’’ Chisholm said of the accomplishment. “I had to soak it in. I feel like it was in a big place in the game, too, so I got hyped up about it.” 

The two-out, two-run blast off Enns — a former Yankee farmhand — cut the Bombers’ deficit to one run, but they didn’t get any closer and failed to gain ground on the Blue Jays in the AL East. 

But it was another example of Chisholm’s development as a player and his importance on a team trying to get back to the postseason. 

Only three Yankees have reached the milestone, with Chisholm joining Soriano and Bobby Bonds, who did it in 1975. 

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“[Getting] 30-30 invokes a lot of things,’’ Aaron Boone said of Chisholm. “It certainly lines up with his skill set.” 

The only other player to be part of the club this year before Chisholm got there is Juan Soto, who also got there for the first time this season. 

Boone also noted that Chisholm missed time due to injuries this season, which kept him from amassing even better numbers and was limited at other times from running when he was playing through discomfort. 

“He’s moving the needle and getting better as a player,’’ Boone said of Chisholm’s overall game since coming over from Miami. “He controls the [strike] zone better. That will allow him to be more of an on-base threat and his speed will help him. He’s a very dynamic player.” 

It wasn’t all perfect for Chisholm and the Yankees on Friday, as he made an ill-advised flip throw towards first base on Gunnar Henderson’s grounder in the sixth. The error — which followed a miscue by Will Warren to open the inning — helped lead to a pair of costly unearned runs. 

Overall, though, the Yankees will take what Chisholm delivers, with Warren saying he “brings a lot to the table, at the plate, on defense [and] on the basepaths.”

He already has a career high in homers and is confident he has more power to display, saying a 40-40 season is possible if he stays healthy for a full season. 

“I’ve been saying that since I was a rookie,’’ Chisholm said.