LeMahieu Looks to Have Huge Impact in Pinstripes Again

As the 2020 season approaches, Pinstripes Insider will be previewing each position and each team in the American League East. Today, Pinstripes Insider will take a deep dive into the 2019 MVP of the Yankees and 4th Place finisher in the AL MVP Voting, DJ LeMahieu.

Nothing but line drives for DJ LeMahieu in his first round of BP pic.twitter.com/38qO9laPJP — Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) February 18, 2020

LeMahieu’s Incredible 2019

Last off-season, Yankee fans panned the decision to sign DJ LeMahieu to a 2-year/$24 million deal instead of big-name free agents such as Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. LeMahieu was a player who did not even have a spot in the 2019 Opening Day lineup. But, the more I looked at his contact rates from his playing days in Colorado, I thought DJ LeMahieu would have a nice season in the Bronx. What he did instead was go beyond everybody’s wildest expectations in leading the Yankees to a 103-win regular season.

Serving as the Yankee lead-off man 125 times, LeMahieu managed to set numerous career-highs. Most notably, his power numbers and ability to drive in runs were by far his best career totals.

Previous Career-High 2019 fWAR 4.4 (2016) 5.4 HR 15 (2018) 26 RBI 66 (2016) 102 Runs 104 (2016) 109 Isolated Power .152 (2018) .191 SLG .495 (2016) .518 wRC+ 130 (2016) 136 Hard% 35.2% (2016) 40.4% HR/FB% 11.1% (2018) 19.3%

DJ LeMahieu’s career year led to him winning his first career Silver Slugger. What made LeMahieu so great in 2019 was his ability to hit with runners in scoring position. Despite being the Yankees’ lead off man, he was able to drive in 73 runs by hitting an MLB-best .392 with runners in scoring position. “The Machine” had his most clutch plate appearance in final plate appearance of the season, banging this home run to tie Game 6 of the ALCS in the 9th inning.

2019 Defensive Performance

Defensively, LeMahieu was a well-known commodity. He came to the Yankees as a three-time Gold Glove winner at second base in Colorado. He proved very valuable to the 2019 Yankees not only because of his excellent glove, but also his defensive versatility. LeMahieu logged 579 2/3 innings at second base, 400 innings at third base, and 262 innings at first base.

Despite moving around all over the infield, LeMahieu was able to have a Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) of 7 for the season. In 2020, it is more likely that he will mostly play his primary position of second base, a position where he recorded 5 DRS last season and 71 DRS since 2012, his first season with over 500 innings at the position. LeMahieu has been so good at second base that since 2012 he has the 11th most Defensive Runs Saved in all of baseball.

What to Expect in 2020?

As much as I would love to say DJ LeMahieu will be just as good or even better than he was in 2019, I think that is just impossible. I have one big reason for that.

He will not post the same numbers with runners in scoring position (RISP).

Difficult to Repeat Success with Runners in Scoring Position

The reason why LeMahieu was so great in 2019 will be why his numbers fall a bit in 2020. LeMahieu hit .392 with runners in scoring position in 2019, tops in baseball. But, of the top 10 in average with runners on base there are only three players who even led off a game in 2019. Ironically, former teammate Charlie Blackmon was second in average with RISP at .385 while leading off 108 games. But, from there, only Matt Beaty (2) and Corey Dickerson (11) led off games in 2019 and finished top 10 in hitting with runners in scoring position.

Another sign of just how rare it is to see production like LeMahieu’s out of the lead off spot is the amount of RBI he had in 2019 with runners in scoring position. He finished 13th in baseball with 73 RBI with RISP. Between the 12 players that had more RBI with RISP than him in 2019, there were just 8 games started where a player served as the lead off man. Bryce Harper started all eight of those games among those 12 players who drove in more runs with RISP than LeMahieu.

Lastly, among players in the top 25 in MLB in RBI with runners in scoring position, LeMahieu had the least amount of plate appearances with 144.

The amount of opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position and to succeed as much as he did in those situations is almost impossible to repeat. Essentially, DJ LeMahieu was due for an RBI every other time he came to the plate with runners in scoring position. That type of success rate, unfortunately, is just not likely in 2020.

Pinstripes Insider Prediction: 141 Games 16 Home Runs 69 RBI .309/.354/.448

Tyler Wade

The man who figures to be LeMahieu’s backup on the 26-man roster is utility man Tyler Wade. Wade enters his age-25 season after playing in 109 games since making his Major League debut with the Yankees back in 2017. It is a big year for Wade as this may be the best opportunity he has had of sticking with the Major League club as a bench player who can fill in, in case of injury.

He is not only able to play second base, but also can play at shortstop, third base, and has experience, albeit very limited experience, in the big leagues playing all three outfield positions. Wade will finally have a great opportunity to stick with the Yankees for the duration of 2020. But, he must prove that he is better than his 53 wRC+ in 241 MLB plate appearances.

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