New York Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu surprised everybody with his fantastic 2019 season after originally being signed as a utility man. He worked his way into the lineup with team-wide injuries, and ended up finishing fourth in the MVP race. There are high expectations for him in 2020, and we’ll see if he lives up to them.
After playing seven years with the Colorado Rockies, the Yankees signed LeMahieu to a two-year deal worth $24 million. He had some solid years in Colorado and won the batting title in 2016, hitting .348.
LeMahieu didn’t have his best year in 2018 with Colorado, and that’s part of the reason why he left. He hit .276 and battled some injuries. So, there weren’t any expectations to live up to in New York.
But, he came out of the gate raking in 2019 and never let up. He hit .327 and drove in over 100 runs from the leadoff spot. He also hit 26 home runs, 11 more than his previous season high.
LeMahieu also made his third all-star team and won his first silver slugger award.
In 2020, he now has expectations to live up to. Unfortunately, he probably won’t be quite as good as he was in 2019, because it was in a sense sort of a fluke season. But, I think that he will be really solid again and bat around .290.
Fans also want the Yankees to extend his contract, but I think that they shouldn’t do so quite yet. They should wait to see what he’s doing during the 2020 season, because if they extend him now and he’s really terrible in 2020, the team may regret the deal. Once the season plays out a bit, you make a decision on whether to do something now or wait to the end of the season.
DJ LeMahieu has high expectations to live up to 2020, and hopefully he will live up to them.