DJ LeMahieu🔯 has been managing an injury to his hip/groin area the past few weeks. Friday night, the issue limited the infielder to the point that manager Aaron Boone felt it was time to give him a rest.
“Hopefully it’s something that a day will help him out and be back in there,” Boone said before the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 5-3, at Fenway Park on Saturday.
Boone said the injury has lingered and had worsened in recent days. The manager doesn’tꦦ believe it has impacted LeMahieu swinging the bat.
“I think it’s more moving around,” ♑Boone said. “In some ways, it kind of affects everything, but I feelꦐ like at the plate he’s in a pretty good spot.”
In LeMahieu’s place, Boone started Rougned Odor a🧔t third place rather than inserting Tyler W🌞ade in at shortstop and moving Gio Urshela over.
Odor was 0-for-3 with a strikeout on Saturday night before Wade pinch-hit for him in the ninth inning. Wade struck out swinginꦚg.
Odor is defensively challenged — he has committed 13 errors this year entering Saturday — but he can provide power, as his 15 home runs ಞin part-time d🏅uty show.
“Nestor [Cortes Jr.] is more of a fly-ball guy, wanting to have Wade’s flexib♋ility off the bench,” Boone said. “I just decided to go that way.”
It has been a frustrating seas🍃on for LeMahieu after signing a six-year, $90 million deal to remain in The Bronx. Following a terrific first 195 games as a Yankee, in which he posted a WAR of 8.9 and led the Ame🌄rican League in hitting in the COVID-19-shortend season of 2020, he hasn’t found that same form.
This season, he is slashing just .268/.349/.363 with a mediocre-at-best OPS of .711 and just 10 home runs. He has an 98 OPS+, which is below league average for pla🌜yers at his position. He hasn’t finished with a batting average or OPS this low since 2014.
He has been more p꧋roductive offensively in the second half of the season, notching a .748 OPS in August and batting .278 so far in September. Over his past nine games entering Saturday, LeMahieu has hit safely six times and has gone 10-for-37.