Yanks could use a visit from 2020 LeMahieu

BALTIMORE — DJ LeMahieu lamented last week that the Yankees are the streakiest team in baseball and he is right. He is also one of the reasons that the ups and downs of this season have seemed so drastic and dramatic. The past two seasons, LeMahieu has been one of the “stabilizers” in the lineup, a steady bat that kept the Yankees somewhat balanced through the streaks of sluggers like Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.

This year, LeMahieu has had his own streaks, and while he’s having a respectable year, it’s not what was expected after his first two seasons with the Yankees were so impressive.

That was one thing a rival executive cited last week when asked why he thought the Yankees have had so many streaks this season.

“They have a lack of stabilizer hitters, guys who are not prone to those high and low streaks are missing in their lineup,” the exec said. “They have taxed their bullpen. Now that they’re healthy, they no longer have that youthful energy in their lineup ... their defense is such that it’s more likely to lose a game than win a game for them.”

That’s too much to address in the final 15 games of the 2021 season for sure, but Aaron Boone was trying to get LeMahieu back on track Thursday night. The infielder was not in the lineup for the series finale against the Orioles at Camden Yards so he could be in a better spot down the stretch as the Yankees chase an American League wild card.

LeMahieu dealt with an arm issue, which forced the Yankees to play him at second base to limit his throwing. But he was back to third when Gleyber Torres was demoted from shortstop on Monday, Boone said he was “fine,” but “just a little banged up.”

LeMahieu had arguably been the Bombers’ offensive MVP the last two seasons, winning the AL batting title in 2020. This season, LeMahieu is hitting a respectable .266/.346/.362, which is a considerable dropoff from the .327 and .364 he hit the past two seasons. LeMahieu is hitting a fine, but disappointing .268/.348/.366 with 10 homers in 139 games this season. His strikeout rate (14%) is the third highest of his career. He is among the bottom 11% in barrels percentage and bottom 31% in expected slugging. oone does not see a huge difference between LeMahieu in 2019 and 2020, and the 2021 version. He feels like it’s some bad luck.

“I feel like for much of the year, it’s similar atbat quality.” the Yankees’ manager said. “Early on, there were some fastballs getting by him to swing and missing a little bit more, but by and large, you look at his games and he has a lot of the typical DJ games where it’s lined out to right field. He had a couple balls to the fence at Yankee Stadium, right up against the fence and right field . ... He’s put some balls on the ground. But by and large, I feel like the at-bat quality’s been there.”

LeMahieu is far from the biggest issue these inconsistent Yankees have, but if he could get back on track to his 2020 self, it would be a huge boost.

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