New York Yankees: Is DJ LeMahieu an MVP darkhorse?
New York Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu is quietly having a great season despite being overshadowed in the Bronx.
DJ LeMahieu, the New York Yankees infielder (54-28), is having a great season while most of his star teammates are seeing more of the injured list than the active roster. He is not a household name, but he has emerged as a dark-horse candidate to win the MVP this year.
On June 22, DJ LeMahieu was hitting .316/.365/.467.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 1, 2019
In the six games since, he is 18 for 28 with three HR, 13 RBI and a .643/.666/1.214 slash.
His season line today: .345/.392/.534 -- almost 100 OPS points higher. And he is perhaps right behind Mike Trout in the AL MVP race.
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LeMahieu has been carrying the Yankees to the second-best record in major league baseball despite both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton having extended stays on the IL this year. He has always been someone who just hits and that alone is what the Yankees have needed.
He is slashing .345/.392/.534 to this point in the season, which would all be career highs except for his batting title season in 2016 with the Colorado Rockies. He is leading the American League in batting average and has a good shot to win the batting title again.
No one in the modern era of baseball (since 1900) has won a batting title in both the AL and the NL, so he is on pace to make history here. Granted it is only half-way through the season, so anything is possible.
LeMahieu is also making a difference in other areas as well. He is on pace to having a career year in both home runs and RBI’s. He has belted 12 home runs to this point in the season and his career high is 15. He already has 61 RBI’s and his career high is 66. He is going to shatter both of those numbers in his 9th season in the league.
He has also earned his third All-Star appearance and will start for the American League. He is the best player on this Yankees team to this point in the year. He is playing at an MVP level and that is good news for the Bronx Bombers.
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I hope DJ LeMahieu wins the batting title to make history and I would love to see him win the AL MVP. The only problem is he resides in the same league as one Mike Trout, and he will be hard-pressed to take that hardware away.