DJ LeMahieu works as the Yankees' middle man in the lineup

What does Aaron Boone dream about? A lot of things, probably. But one that he talked about recently was batting the resurgent DJ LeMahieu in the middle of the batting order rather than his customary leadoff spot.

“In some ways,” Boone said, “I do like and dream about DJ hitting in the middle of things.”  

Since Boone is the guy who has the final say on the Yankees’ lineup, he’s in a position to make that happen. That’s why including Tuesday night’s series opener against Baltimore in the Bronx, LeMahieu had hit fifth 10 times and first just five times this season.

One of those five times in the first spot was Sunday, when the Yankees' offense finally broke out with a season high in runs and hits (13) in a 10-2 victory over Cleveland.

LeMahieu went 3-for-4 with a double, a two-run homer and three RBIs. He extended a hitting streak to 11 games and, for the season, is batting .333 with two home runs, seven RBIs and a .924 OPS.

“I feel good,” LeMahieu said after the game. “I feel good. I’ve kind of felt good all year. I think today I was just seeing it good and put some good swings and hopefully I can keep it going.”

You’re not likely to get much more out of LeMahieu in terms of colorful quotes, whether he’s going good or bad.

He was a bland talker in 2019 and 2020, when he finished fourth and then third in AL MVP voting. He was the same in 2021, when he slipped to a .268 batting average a season after leading the majors in the shortened 2020 season at .364.

LeMahieu played through a sports hernia last season, and you didn’t hear much about that until he had surgery in October.

Now he's back, whether it’s in the first spot in the order or the fifth, and whether he starts at first, second or third base, or designated hitter.

“I think he looks great,”  said Boone, who batted LeMahieu in the leadoff spot Tuesday against the Orioles.“The at-bat quality, the consistency of his at-bats, he looks like DJ. He’s obviously getting his hits and getting on base, but usually even when he makes an out, he’s on the barrel, which is him. He can barrel up the ball. But I’ve been really encouraged with just the overall consistency of his at-bats, game in and game out. [In 2019-20], he was an MVP candidate. I think everyone understands how great of a player he’s been for us, especially in those two years.”

The Yankees came back in 2022 with a lot of the same lineup pieces they had at the end of last season. So how are they supposed to improve? One way is for LeMahieu to go back to being the guy who sprayed line drives all over the ballpark when he was, for the most part, the Yankees’ leadoff hitter.

“I like him there,” Boone said. “But I feel like once we get rolling as an offense, too, I also like him in the middle of the lineup because I do feel like he’s a guy that, in the middle there, when we get our guys going at the rate I expect, there can be a lot of traffic for him. And if he’s hitting the ball on the barrel as much as he is right now, that’s going to be good for us.

“The way DJ’s playing right now and how he’s played the majority of the time with us — he’s been our leadoff guy a ton — but I do feel like we do have some more guys capable of being a good fit in that spot.”  

Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks, along with LeMahieu, lead the Yankees in starts at the leadoff spot with five each . Anthony Rizzo has started two games there.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.