New York Yankees: Is D.J. LeMahieu any good?
By Joey Brasch
Will D.J. LeMahieu be worth the money for the New York Yankees?
On Friday, D.J. LeMahieu signed a two-year deal with the New York Yankees. A huge portion of the news about the LeMahieu signing is how it would affect the Yankees’ pursuit of Manny Machado. There is no doubt that Machado is a better player than LeMahieu, but LeMahieu is a very unique and controversial player in his own right. LeMahieu has spent almost his entire career as the second baseman for the Colorado Rockies, playing half of his games at remarkably hitter-friendly Coors Field.
There is no controversy about whether Coors Field increases offense. Beyond the simple physics that the ball travels further in higher altitude, Coors Field also has an enormous outfield, meaning that more balls drop for hits that would be outs in other ballparks. In his career, LeMahieu has a paltry .264/.311/.362 line away from home, but it’s not as simple to say that this is the player that LeMahieu is.
There’s a theory called the “Coors Field Hangover Effect,” which states that Rockies’ hitters become used to the way the ball breaks at Coors Field and struggle more than other teams once they play at sea level. For this reason, it seems unfair to look at a player’s numbers away from Coors and claim that’s an accurate representation of a player.
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By everyone’s account, D.J. LeMahieu had a great 2016 season. He put up an absurd .348/.416/.495 line and was good for 4.4 WAR according to Fangraphs. But over the course of his career, LeMahieu only has a 90 wRC+, meaning that his park-adjusted results suggest he’s 10 percent worse than an average hitter.
But Baseball Prospectus released a new metric called Deserved Runs Created Plus, which takes a different approach to a players performance and is much more friendly to Rockies’ hitters. By DRC+, LeMahieu has been five percent better than the average hitter over the course of his career. Every defensive metric suggests that LeMahieu is a great defensive second baseman, so the Yankees can certainly count on that.
One of the fascinating things about LeMahieu’s hitting is his success at hitting the ball the other way. In his career, Lemahieu has an absurd .438 batting average when he hits the ball to the right side.
One may think that the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium may be a godsend for LeMahieu, but that’s looking at it too simplistically. Only 8 of his 49 career home runs have gone to right field, as most of his success going to opposite way comes from singles. Players forced to play shallow in the small Yankee Stadium right field may actually end up taking hits from LeMahieu and hurt his success more than it helps him.
dark. Next. Can LeMahieu be another Zobrist?
D.J. LeMahieu is certainly no Manny Machado, which is why he got $24 million when Machado will likely end up with more than $200 million. But after spending so long playing half of his games at altitude with the Rockies, it isn’t exactly clear the kind of hitter he will be once he plays away from Coors Field. LeMahieu’s defense would be stellar wherever he plays, but the New York Yankees are certainly taking a risk when it comes to his offense.