
The New York Yankees are going to be without one of their best players for a while, after they decided to put infielder DJ LeMahieu on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left thumb. The Bombers called up Miguel Andujar from the alternate training site in the correspondent move.
It’s a bummer, since LeMahieu was leading the American League in batting average with .411 and had a case to be the Yankees’ hottest hitter (although outfielder Clint Frazier may have a say, as well.) With the 32-year-old on the shelf, the Bombers lose their best contact hitter, and the lineup will undoubtedly suffer it.
The talented infielder had to leave Saturday’s game against the Boston Red Sox in the fifth inning with the injury. Tyler Wade replaced him and figures to pick up the majority of the playing time available in LeMahieu’s absence.
The Yankees will feel his absence
As our own Alexander Wilson noted, LeMahieu sprained a thumb back in 2018 when he was with the Colorado Rockies, and ended up missing nearly two weeks. The hope is that he doesn’t miss more than the minimum.
Aaron Boone expressed his concern over losing LeMahieu to the injury, but seemed confident that the Yankees have what it takes to cope with his absence. “We’ll absorb it. Any time you lose guys of that caliber, it’s not a good thing and a difficult thing. But as always, the expectations in that room never change,†he said per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
LeMahieu was having a stellar season, with a .411/.456/ .534 slash line, a .428 wOBA and a 177 wRC+. He had a couple of homers and one stolen base to go with his fantastic 6.3 BB% and 8.9 K%. In 19 games, he had amassed a total of 1.0 fWAR, which is awfully impressive and speaks about his impact in every facet of the game.