Biography
David John LeMahieu (; born July 13, 1988) is an American professional baseball infielder for the New York Yankees. He previously played for the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. The Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft out of LSU, and he made his MLB debut for the Cubs in 2011 before being traded to the Rockies before the 2012 season. With Colorado, LeMahieu won Gold Glove Awards in 2014, 2017, and 2018, was named an All-Star in 2015 and 2017, and won the National League batting title in 2016. After becoming a free agent following the 2018 season, he signed a two-year contract with the Yankees, where he has played as a third baseman, second baseman, and occasionally as a first baseman.His versatility on defense and hitting ability earned LeMahieu the nickname "LeMachine" by Gary Sánchez. He was also called Big Fundy, due to his fundamentally sound techniques. With the Yankees, he was named a starter on the 2019 All-Star team, and won his first career Silver Slugger Award that same year.
Early life and career
LeMahieu was born in Visalia, California. His family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, while DJ was in middle school, then moved to Michigan, where he attended Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. He played as a shortstop and pitcher for the school's baseball team. In his senior year, as a leadoff hitter, he batted .574 with eight home runs, 16 doubles, seven triples, 70 runs scored, 32 runs batted in (RBIs), and 39 stolen bases. He recorded two strikeouts in 92 at bats. His career average in high school was .459 with 201 hits. As a junior, he was an Aflac All-American. He was also a two-time Gatorade player of the year and Louisville Slugger Player of the Year for the State of Michigan.After his senior year at Brother Rice, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 2007 MLB draft in the 41st round. He did not sign with the Tigers so that he could attend college.
College career
LeMahieu enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college baseball for the LSU Tigers. As a freshman at LSU, for the 2008 season, he started in 67 of 68 games, hit .337 overall, and helped LSU reach the NCAA post-season play for the first time since 2005. In the post-season, he was selected to the All-Tournament team for the Baton Rouge regional after hitting .300 and scoring 7 runs. In between his only two college baseball seasons, LeMahieu was part of the 2008 Harwich Mariners team in the Cape Cod League, he earned the team's regular-season MVP award and was named the No. 6 prospect in the Cape Cod League by Baseball America magazine. The Mariners would go on to win the League Championship Series for the first time in 21 years.During his sophomore campaign, LeMahieu was selected as a pre-season All American by Collegiate Baseball. LeMahieu would open the 2009 season with a 9-game hitting streak adding to his previous 16-game consecutive streak from the end of the 2008 campaign, to total hitting safely in 25 consecutive games. LeMahieu finished the season leading the team in batting average, .350 and total hits, 96. In Game 1 of the Championship Series, LeMahieu would homer in the 7th inning giving LSU the lead temporarily. Later, down to their final out in the 9th inning, LeMahieu would pull a game tying double off the left field wall. He then would then lead off the 11th inning with a walk, steal second base with two outs and finally score the game’s winning run. As a contributor to LSU's 6th National Championship, LeMahieu would be selected to the 2009 College World Series All-Tournament team, hitting .444 in the series and leading all players with 12 hits.
Professional career
Chicago Cubs
MLB's Chicago Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft with the 79th overall selection. He played for the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League in 2009 after the draft. In 38 games, he hit .316 with 30 RBIs. He spent the 2010 season with the Daytona Cubs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, batting .314 with 73 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 135 games, going on to earn a FSL Post-Season All-Star selection.LeMahieu began the 2011 season with the Tennessee Smokies of the Class AA Southern League. On May 30, the Cubs promoted LeMahieu to the major leagues when Jeff Baker was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain. That day, LeMahieu made his major league debut pinch-hitting for the pitcher John Grabow, grounding into a double play. He did not stay in the game, a 12–7 loss to the Houston Astros. The Cubs demoted LeMahieu to the Iowa Cubs of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League in June. He returned to the major leagues in September and would be honored as an MiLB.com Organization All-Star for the 2011 season.
Colorado Rockies
On December 8, 2011, the Cubs traded LeMahieu and Tyler Colvin to the Colorado Rockies for Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart. On May 23, 2012, LeMahieu was called up to the major leagues to replace injured Jonathan Herrera as a utility infielder. On August 14, he recorded a career-best four hits in a 9–6 Rockies win over the Milwaukee Brewers and in his first game against his former team, the Chicago Cubs, LeMahieu registered three hits in four at bats. Later in August, LeMahieu wrote his name into the record books, as he recorded 12 assists in a 9-inning victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 28th. This mark tied a record held by several players. In 2014, LeMahieu batted .267/.315/.348 with five home runs in 494 at bats. Defensively, he had an ultimate zone rating of 11.0, which was first in the National League (NL) and third in the majors. He won his first Gold Glove with 16 Defensive Runs Saved and led the majors with 99 double plays.LeMahieu was the starting second baseman for the NL in the 2015 All-Star Game; this was LeMahieu's first All-Star selection. For the season, he batted .301 and led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (39.0%), while seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (66.9%).In 2016, LeMahieu won the NL batting title after batting .439 in August and .363 in September. His .348 season average led all of MLB. For the season, he had the highest batting average on balls in play (.388) of all major league players, and again led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (37.9%).LeMahieu was selected to the 2017 MLB All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Dee Gordon. He batted .310 and for the third consecutive year led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (38.3%), while seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (67.0%). Also again in 2017, LeMahieu collected the NL Gold Glove for second basemen. Additionally, he won the Fielding Bible Award for all major league second basemen.In the 2018 season, LeMahieu hit a career-high 15 home runs while batting .276/.321/.428. He was tied for seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (63.6%). In addition to an increase in power numbers, his defensive excellence continued. LeMahieu finished the 2018 season with a 19.5 SDI (SABR Defensive Index) highest of all NL players, and his 2.2 defensive WAR was eighth best among all of MLB. The .993 fielding percentage, .859 zone rating and 18 defensive runs saved were best for all NL second basemen. He earned both a third Gold Glove and a third Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award.
New York Yankees
On January 14, 2019, LeMahieu signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the New York Yankees.In July's two-game London Series (which marked the halfway mark of the Yankees season), LeMahieu had 7 hits in 12 at bats, three doubles and 7 RBIs. This performance helped the Yankees sweep the Red Sox in the series. Due to injuries in the team, he has spent time at first, second and third base. It was the first time he has played in multiple positions since 2014, but did not cover shortstop that season. He was also the first Yankees player to ever make 25 starts in each of the three different infield positions. During the playoffs, he played exclusively at first base. In Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS, LeMahieu hit a game-tying two-run home-run in the ninth inning to tie the ballgame at 4–4, with the Yankees two outs from elimination. However, José Altuve would hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the inning, eliminating the Yankees. LeMahieu finished the 2019 season .327/.375/.518 with 26 home runs and 102 RBIs. He set new career highs in hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs and runs scored. He had the lowest pull percentage of all major league batters (27.9%). LeMahieu was awarded the Silver Slugger Award and finished fourth in AL MVP voting. He was also elected to the inaugural All-MLB First Team for second base.
Batting profile
Despite his 6'4", 215 pound frame that lead many scouts to suggest that he had potential as a pure power hitter, LeMahieu became a powerful opposite field contact hitter. His tendency to not leg kick, and hit for contact with low launch angle (average of under 10 degrees) was compensated by his high exit velocity (91.7 mph average as of August 8, 2019), meaning he can still hit for extra bases while not getting long fly outs. He has also hit more opposite field home runs than pulling home runs in the 2019 season.
Personal life
LeMahieu and his wife, Jordan, were married in 2014. On July 4, 2020, it was announced that LeMahieu had tested positive for COVID-19.