NEW YORK — DJ LeMahieu smoked a ball 102.5 mph off the bat to right field in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets, but it landed in Tyrone Taylor’s glove. It’s these kinds of batted balls that have the New York Yankees encouraged about LeMahieu’s short-term and long-term future in the batter’s box. Five of LeMahieu’s 10 hardest-hit balls of the season have come in the past week.
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“Honestly, I’m encouraged just off the last week or so,” Yankees hitting coach James Rowson said before Tuesday’s game. “I think DJ’s timing is coming along. I like the at-bats. He’s getting the barrel on the ball and all of his work looks good. We just need a couple of balls to fall. We’ve talked about that this year with a couple of guys. We had that conversation about (Giancarlo Stanton) and some other guys. Then all of a sudden they find that groove and they get going. I honestly see DJ moving in the same direction.”
LeMahieu’s barrel rate entering Wednesday’s game sat at 7.3 percent, which would be the second-highest mark of his career. His average exit velocity is in line with his past two seasons, although his max exit velocity of 107.7 mph is down 3.5 mph from last season. But looking deeper at the metrics, there are some concerning numbers from LeMahieu. His O-swing percentage, the amount a player swings at pitches outside of the strike zone, is 30.9 percent, the highest it’s been since 2013. His contact percentage is the lowest it’s been since his rookie season. His wOBA, xwOBA and xwOBACON, measures for how a player gets on base and the quality of his contact, are all career lows.
That’s a troubling sign for the two-time batting champion because he’s built his career off being one of the game’s best contact hitters. But not all contact is weighed equally. Half of LeMahieu’s 10 hardest-hit balls this season have been pounded into the dirt. His 61.1 percent ground-ball rate is the highest it’s been since his rookie season with the Colorado Rockies. His launch angle this season is a career worst. Even with LeMahieu hitting the ball hard, it’s mostly been meaningless because of his ground-ball problem. Most major-league infielders don’t have a problem gobbling up grounders that are hit straight into the dirt.
“I think we’re going to see the contact quality improve,” Rowson said. “I think a lot of those things are byproducts of the inconsistency of the flow of at-bats right now. I think it’s coming. As we see him square up more balls consistently in the game, you’re going to see the quality contact go up and the ground-ball rate go down. The underlying numbers tend to get better when your consistency of barreling up the baseball on time starts to happen. I am optimistic about him. You see the numbers, but I also look at the back of his baseball card over his time as a major leaguer. This league is about making adjustments and he’s always proven that he can make them. I think he’s going to continue doing that and we should get the better version of DJ.”
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The back of the baseball card argument is a frequent one coaches use to back their veterans. The reality of LeMahieu’s situation is he’s turning 36 in a few weeks and has had two significant foot injuries in the past three seasons. Historically, those players tend to not improve exponentially. But it’s also unlikely that LeMahieu will continue being a 41 wRC+ hitter, which he’s been to start the season. He’s better than this, but the question is how much? He’s the only player in MLB with at least 80 plate appearances and no extra-base hits this season. He’s struggling to hit high-velocity fastballs. Over 21 percent of the pitches he’s seen this season have been 95 mph or harder, the most since 2022. LeMahieu has just two hits against those pitches.
Back in spring training, there may not have been anyone in Yankees camp garnering as much hype as LeMahieu. Manager Aaron Boone said the third baseman looked more explosive than in previous years. Aaron Judge felt like LeMahieu set his training into high gear this offseason. All of that came crashing down when LeMahieu fouled a ball off his right foot in the middle of spring training, causing him to miss the season’s first 55 games. Since returning, LeMahieu has been one of the 10 worst-performing hitters by wRC+.
“It’s just something that we got to be patient with and hope that he continues to kind of work through and it eventually clicks for him and he gets rolling and can become that presence that we know he can be, especially with Anthony (Volpe) doing well and what he’s doing,” Boone said. “When DJ is right and going well, I feel like him at the back end of that lineup can really do some good things turning our lineup over. We just got to continue working with him and get him there and hope it clicks here.
“We got to exercise some patience here. We got to see where this is going. I certainly feel like it’s in there. We just have to help him get it there. That difference between scuffling and being really hot is small sometimes. I think where he’s been injury-wise and what he’s come back from, we’ve got to be patient there. I think he’s healthy, which is good. Hopefully we can see it trend the other way a little bit.”
If LeMahieu doesn’t turn it around, there aren’t many internal options to replace him in the lineup. Oswaldo Cabrera played most of the games in LeMahieu’s absence but he has struggled at the plate and in the field. Jon Berti is out with a calf strain and there’s no timetable for a possible return. J.D. Davis, whom the Yankees acquired this past weekend, could play third but the club plans on having him play the majority of his games at first base. Looking at the minors, Oswald Peraza has third-base experience at the major-league level but hasn’t shown he can hit consistently.
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The Yankees can’t let the trade deadline pass without seriously addressing both corner-infield positions. Davis profiles more as a bench option. Rookie Ben Rice has looked poised at the plate but he’ll need to prove he belongs over a larger sample. If not, the Yankees could move LeMahieu to first, platoon him with Rice and then target a third baseman.
There’s still a month until the trade deadline arrives. In the meantime, the Yankees believe LeMahieu will snap out of his funk.
“Guys who have the track record like him, they tend to make adjustments and they do get out of these things,” Rowson said. “I am privy to seeing things that everyone doesn’t. That’s why I believe in him. There’s not a guy who’s working harder. He’s starting to find that groove and starting to get better. Hopefully, two weeks from now when we’re talking, this is behind us. I feel like with DJ, it will be.”
(Photo of DJ LeMahieu: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
