TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — DJ LeMahieu reacted to his poor play the way many New York Yankees fans did.
“Definitely lost a lot of sleep,” he said Tuesday.
A three-time All-Star infielder, LeMahieu hasn't had a fully healthy season since 2020. With his 37th birthday approaching in July, he hopes to again be the dominant hitter he once was.
“For a majority of my career, I would pretty much play unless my leg was cut off,” he said. “I’d just kind of strap it on every day and played. It’s just the last few years, just bumps, bruises, this, that. I had the foot fracture. Stuff that I could kind of play through in the past. It just kind of it escalates and it gets — it compounds.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone is shifting Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second following the departure of Gleyber Torres to Detroit as a free agent. LeMahieu will get a chance for playing time at third.
“The hit tool is one of those things that ages usually pretty well,” Boone said. “With health, I do believe there’s reason to believe that there’s a role to be played there. It it an everyday role? Is it some kind of platoon role? His body will kind of dictate that.”
LeMahieu left Colorado as a free agent to sign a $24 million, two-year contract with the Yankees in January 2019 and hit a career-high .364 with a 1.011 OPS in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to win his second batting title. He again became a free agent and the Yankees retained him with a $90 million, six-year contract.
He dropped to a .268 average the following year and missed the postseason because of a sports hernia that required core muscle repair surgery on Oct. 12.
LeMahieu rebounded to hit .272 in the first half of 2022, but had a cortisone injection to his right big toe at the All-Star break and slumped to .228 in the second half. The turning point was during a weekend series at Fenway Park on Aug. 12 and 13, 2022.
“I remember we’re in Boston watching his at-bats just change overnight,” Boone said. “It just really zapped him.”
Since then, LeMahieu is hitting .226 with 17 homers, 73 RBIs in 224 games with a .637 OPS.
“It’s tough to be a guy that the team can’t rely on at times,” he said.
LeMahieu missed the 2022 playoffs because of the injury, eventually diagnosed as a broken sesamoid bone in his right big toe that led to ligament damage in his second toe.
LeMahieu hit .220 in the first half of 2023 and rose to .273 in the second. Then he broke his right foot when he fouled off a pitch during a spring training game last March 16, delaying his season debut until May 28.
In a season cut short on Sept. 3 by right hip impingement, LeMahieu batted a career-low .204 with two homers and 26 RBIs in 228 plate appearances. He understands there are people who doubt he can bounce back.
“That's fine,” he said. “Plenty of times in my career people haven't always been the most confident in me. I'll obviously use that as motivation but at the same time I've got enough to worry about. I know if I can just be myself and continue to work to be that, that'll be fine.”
He took a two-month break from hitting until he reported to the Yankees' minor league complex in mid-January, trying to give his body time to heal.
“I felt good,” he said, “But it's easy to feel good in January.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
