DJ LEMAHIEU, A CRITICAL PIECE OF THE YANKEES FUTURE

DJ LeMahieu is the best offensive player in baseball, bar none. Yeah, I said it. What’s shocking to me is how that is not obvious to everyone in baseball. Sure, if you look out across baseball you can find players who are better home run hitters, better fielders, better clutch players, and more versatile players. No one else is among the best in ALL those categories.

Credit: The Athletic

His resume is sterling. You would be hard pressed to find another one like it. Two batting championship, one in each league. Three Gold Gloves. In the Top 5 of the MVP voting two years in a row. He led the American League in batting average (.364), on base percentage (.421), and OPS (1.011). If you normalize last year to a 162-game season, he would have hit 27 home runs, to follow his 26 home runs in 2019. His slash line for the combined two postseasons DJ played for the Yankees is .306/.363/.472/.835. He has proven his versatility, showing he’s more than capable of playing at 2B, 3B, and 1B with a combined fielding percentage of .983. Yes, he’s a fixture at second base now, but we all know how easily an injury can happen and change the daily lineup. Knowing he can move around helps us adapt to anything unexpected that might happen.

Credit: USA TODAY Sports

And then there’s his clutch hitting. Who can forget his 9th inning home run to tie Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS? Were it not for whatever was under Jose Altuve’s jersey that told him an off-speed pitch was coming, that would have likely been the pivotal hit of the season. Then last season he hit the go ahead run against Cleveland in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series. If the game is on the line and the Yankees need to score some runs, there is no one else I want at the plate than DJ.

The mad scramble teams go through every winter went on this year, and I couldn’t think of a more important signing than LeMahieu. Thankfully, he agreed to a 6-year contract worth $90M. There really was no better option for the Yankees. The contract guarantees he will be with the team through age 39 – basically the rest of his career. It makes us competitive for the next six years, and you cannot put a price on that.

--Ike Dimitriadis
BYB Contributor
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon