DJ LeMahieu

At 35 years old, DJ LeMahieu has this physical status:

David John LeMahieu (born July 13, 1988) is an American professional baseball infielder for the New York Yankees.

He has played for the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies before.

In the second round of the 2009 MLB draft, LeMahieu made his MLB debut for the Cubs in 2011, before being traded to the Rockies until the 2012 season.

LeMahieu, a Colorado native, won Gold Glove Awards in 2014, 2017, and 2018, and was named an All-Star in 2015 and 2017, and took home the National League batting title in 2016.

After becoming a free agent following the 2018 season, LeMahieu's versatility on defense and hitting ability earned him the nickname "LeMachine" by Gary Sánchez.

He was also known as Big Fundy because of his fundamentally sound strategies.

He was named a starter on the 2019 All-Star team and received his first Silver Slugger Award the same year.

Personal life

In 2014, LeMahieu and his wife, Jordan, were married. They lived in Birmingham, Michigan, during the offseason and in New York City during the season. LeMahieu had tested positive for COVID-19 on July 4, 2020, and it was back to normalcy a few weeks later.

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Early life and career

LeMahieu was born in Visalia, California. While DJ was in middle school, his family migrated to Madison, Wisconsin, where he attended Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township. He played for the school's baseball team as a shortstop and pitcher. He batted.574 with eight home runs, seven triples, 70 runs scored, 32 runs batted in, and 39 stolen bases in his senior year as a leadoff hitter. In 92 at bats, he had two strikeouts. With 201 hits, he was.459 in high school. He was an Aflac All-American as a youth. He was also a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year and a Louisville Slugger Player of the Year for the State of Michigan.

He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 2007 MLB draft in the 41st round after his senior year at Brother Rice. He didn't sign with Detroit so he could go to college.

College career

LeMahieu attended Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college baseball for the LSU Tigers. He started in 67 of 68 games, finished.337 overall, and helped LSU win the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005. After hitting.300 and scoring seven runs in the Baton Rouge regional, he was selected to the All-Tournament squad for the Baton Rouge region in the post-season.

LeMahieu played for the 2008 Harwich Mariners team in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was named the team's first-season MVP and was named the No. 68 in between his two college baseball seasons. Baseball America magazine has a 6some in the Cape Cod League. For the first time in 21 years, the Mariners won the League Championship Series for the first time in 21 years.

LeMahieu was selected as a pre-season All American by Collegiate Baseball during his sophomore season. LeMahieu began the 2009 season with a 9-game hitting streak, his longest streak since the 2008 campaign began, with total games playing in 25 consecutive games. LeMahieu finished the season leading the team in batting average of.350 and total hits, 96. In Game 1 of the Championship Series, LeMahieu hit a home run in the seventh inning, temporarily giving LSU the lead. LeMahieu scored a game tying double off the left field wall in the ninth innings, knocking them out of the game. He led off the 11th inning with a walk, stole second base with two outs, and scored the game's winning run. LeMahieu was selected to the 2009 College World Series All-Tournament Team, hitting.444 in the series and leading all players with 12 hits.

Professional career

LeMahieu was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft, with the 79th overall pick overall. Before the draft, he played for the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League in 2009. He batted in for 316 runs in 38 games. With 73 runs batted in and 15 stolen bases in 135 games, he made the Florida State League's Class A-Advanced Florida State League's 2010 season, winning a Florida State League All-Star pick.

The Tennessee Smokies of the Class AA Southern League began the 2011 season with LeMahieu. Jeff Baker was recalled by the Cubs on May 30 as a left groin strain and a left groin strain. LeMahieu's debut pinch-hitting for the pitcher John Grabow was a double play on that day. Despite losing 12–7 to the Houston Astros, he did not remain in the game. In June, the Cubs demoted LeMahieu to the Iowa Cubs of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL). In September, he returned to the big leagues and was named as an MiLB.com Organization All-Star for the 2011 season.

The Cubs traded LeMahieu and Tyler Colvin to the Colorado Rockies in lieu of Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart on December 8, 2011. He began with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the PCL in 2012.

LeMahieu was called up to the major leagues on May 23, 2012 to replace injured Jonathan Herrera as a utility infielder. Herrera was activated in Colorado Springs and was recalled to the Rockies on July 17 after Chris Nelson was hospitalized. In a 9–6 Rockies victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on August 14, he hit his first game against his former team, the Chicago Cubs, for the first time in his career, LeMahieu registered three hits in four at bats. LeMahieu wrote his name into the record books after winning by 9 runs over the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 28th. This set a record held by several players.

LeMahieu batted.267/.348 in 494 at bats in 2014. He had a final zone rating of 11.0, which was first in the National League (NL) and third in the majors. With 16 Defensive Runs Saved, he earned his first Gold Glove and led the majors with 99 double plays.

In the 2015 All-Star Game, LeMahieu was the starting second baseman for the NL; this was LeMahieu's first All-Star pick. He batted.301 and led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (39.0%), while hitting the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (66.9%).

LeMahieu won the NL batting title in 2016 after batting.439 in August and.363 in September. All of MLB were surveyed after his.348 average. He had the highest batting average on balls in play (3.88) among all major league players, and he led the major leagues in number of balls struck to the opposite field (37.9%).

LeMahieu was drafted as an injury replacement for Dee Gordon in the 2017 MLB All-Star Game. He batted.310 and led the majors in percentage of balls struck to the opposite field for the third year in a row (38.3%), while the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (67.0%). Also in 2017, LeMahieu received the NL Gold Glove for second basemen. In addition, he received the Fielding Bible Award for all major league second basemen.

LeMahieu's season was a success in the 2018 season, with a batting average of.321/.428. He was tied for the most fastballs of all MLB hitters (63.6%). In addition to an increase in power numbers, his defensive excellence endured. LeMahieu's 2018 season ended with a 19.5 SDI (SABR Defensive Index) ranking him fifth highest among all NL players, while his 2.2 defensive WAR was the eighth best in all baseball. All NL second basemen had the best fielding percentage,.859 zone rating, and 18 defensive runs saved. He received both a third Gold Glove and a third Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award.

LeMahieu signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the New York Yankees on January 14, 2019. LeMahieu is expected to be used by the Yankees as a utility infielder. In a 5-3 loss to the Orioles, he made his Yankee debut on March 30 in Yankee Stadium, going 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. LeMahieu had a fruitful month of June after getting off to a good start. He hit base safely in all but one game, and he also put together a 14-game winning streak from June 14 to June 30 (which included six consecutive multi-hit games from June 23-30). LeMahieu had seven hits in 12 at bats, three doubles, and seven runs batted in in the two-game London Series (which marked the halfway point of the Yankees' season) at the end of June, assisting the Yankees in sweeping the Red Sox in the series. This was LeMahieu's first game of the Week award, which he followed up by winning the June AL Player of the Month award for the first time (batting.395/.658 with 6 home runs, 29 runs batted in, and 45 hits) and being named as the starting second baseman for the All-Star game.

He spent time at first, second, and third base throughout the season due to injuries. It was the first time he had played in multiple positions since 2014, but he did not cover shortstop this season. He was also the first Yankees player to make 25 starts in any of the three different infield positions. He was primarily at first base during the playoffs. LeMahieu scored a game-tying two-run home-run in the ninth innings to tie the ballgame at 4–4, with the Yankees and the Yankees two outs from elimination. José Altuve would hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the inning, defeating the Yankees.

During 145 games, LeMahieu led to a.327 average with 26 home runs and 102 runs batted in 2019. Hits (197), doubles (33), home runs, runs batted in, runs scored (109), runs scored (109), bWAR (5.9), and bWAR (5.9). He set new career highs in hits (197), doubles (5.4), and bWAR (5.9). He had the lowest pull percentage of all major league batters (27.9%) and had remarkably consistent stats all-round (his lowest monthly batting average was.282 in July), as well as his home/road and pre-post All-Star splits were.338/.316 respectively). In addition, placing second in the American League in batting average since Canó in 2013, he became the first Yankee to qualify for the batting title since Derek Jeter in 2009, who came in second place in batting average since he reached.334. For the first time in his career, LeMahieu was named to the inaugural All-Member team for second base and finished third in the AL MVP poll, behind Mike Trout, Alex Bregman, and Marcus Semien.

After recovering from COVID-19, LeMahieu did not appear in the Yankees' 2020 Opening Day lineup. He was batting.431 in 65 at-bats in a four-hit game against the Atlanta Braves. Nonetheless, he sustained a left thumb injury against the Boston Red Sox on August 16 and was put on the 10-day injured list. On August 29, LeMahieu was first recalled from the injured list.

LeMahieu finished the season with a.364 batting average, which was the highest in the American League. He was the fourth Yankee to lead a major league in hitting, and the ninth Yankee to win an AL batting championship since Bernie Williams in 1998. LeMahieu was also the second player to win a batting title in any league (LeMahieu was also the second player to win a batting title in each league in 2016), after Ed Delahanty, who scored.410 for Philadelphia (NL) in 1899 and.376 for Washington (AL) in 1902. However, LeMahieu was the first player in MLB's "new era" to win a batting championship in both the American and National Leagues. With teammate Luke Voit leading the MLB with home runs (with 22 runs), the pair became the first two teammates to lead the MLB in batting average and home runs since Hank Aaron (.355) and Eddie Mathews (46 HR) did it in 1959 with the Milwaukee Braves. He was also the second Yankees player to win a batting championship in a shortened season prior to entering contract talks. LeMahieu was the AL's OBP (.421), OPS (1.011), adjusted OPS (+.813), and bWAR for position players (2.8). He received his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award and came third in AL MVP voting behind José Abdel and José Ramrez.

LeMahieu's free agency announced a six-year, $90 million contract on January 27, 2021, bringing him right back to the Yankees. LeMahieu's 300th career game with the Yankees came on May 7, 2021, in his 225th game. This was the second fastest in team history behind Joe DiMaggio, who made the record in 200 games.

He batted.268/.348/.362 in 2021, the lowest pull percentage in the major leagues (at 24.8%), and had the highest opposite field percentage (at 35.8%).

With 12 home runs and 46 RBIs in 2022, he batted.357/.377 in 467 at bats in 467 at bats. He was pitched 60 percent, the highest percentage of any major leaguer. He had a lower percentage of pitches in the strike zone (54.7%) than any other major league batter.

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