Struggling Yankees player is ‘completely shot’ host says | ‘It’s a shame’
Publicly, the New York Yankees continue to support struggling infielder DJ LeMahieu, with hitting coach James Rowson saying last week he was “encouraged” with his recent batted balls, despite the lack of results.
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Privately, it would not be surprising if they were concerned because LeMahieu is batting .180 with no home runs and a 39 OPS+ (100 is average) in 103 plate appearances, and if they won’t say it directly, New York hosts will.
“As I noted last week, multiple baseball people I’ve spoken to believe DJ LeMahieu is completely shot as a productive player,” SNY’s Jon Alba wrote Wednesday on Twitter. “The injuries have taken away his plant and ability to drive the ball. It’s a shame.”
“I saw him take two of the best swings he’s taken in the last two weeks (on Tuesday) …he put everything he had into those swings, and they didn’t make the warning track,” WFAN’s Chris McMonigle said Wednesday, via Audacy. “He has zero pop in there.
“The juice is gone.”
The batted balls McMonigle referenced came during an 0 for 4 showing in a loss against the Cincinnati Reds when LeMahieu hit two flyouts at 101.1 mph and 98.7 mph. Those events hover around LeMahieu’s average for his hardest 50-percentile hits, which is 98.9 mph, 270th in MLB for players with at least 25 at-bats, per Statcast. Giancarlo Stanton (108.1) and Aaron Judge (107.8) are Nos 1 and 2.
While the 35-year-old has remained hard to strike out (17.5%), LeMahieu is not showing the impact in his swing; his expected slugging is .395, essentially at last year’s level, and his 107.7 mph max-exit velocity would represent the lowest of his career for at least 10 seasons.
It makes sense that there has been chatter around the Yankees exploring the corner-infield market leading into the July 30 trade deadline.
