DJ LeMahieu's spin on familiar super-sub role: Fine with me

A rival talent evaluator, just before the 2019 regular season got underway, shook his head when pondering the Yankees.  

“Here’s how loaded they are,” he said. “They have an NL batting champion, [who’s also] a Gold Glover, on the bench. That’s loaded.”

Though it is recent history, it is a piece that has largely been forgotten by many fans and media.

Indeed, when DJ LeMahieu, the NL batting champion and Gold Glover the scout was referring to, signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the Yankees before the 2019 season, he did so with the idea he would be on the bench and fill a super-sub role of sorts. Though a three-time Gold Glove winner at second base with the Rockies and the winner of the 2016 NL batting title, he would fill in there but also as the primary backup at third and first.

Sound familiar?

As the Yankees start the 2022 season — the opener is slated for Friday afternoon against the Red Sox at the Stadium following Thursday’s rainout — LeMahieu is in a similar spot: a man without a position, at least a starting one.

The starting job at third is spoken for after Josh Donaldson arrived from the Twins along with shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and backup catcher Ben Rortvedt, and the same goes for Gleyber Torres at second and Anthony Rizzo at first.

It is possible LeMahieu gets the Opening Day nod over Torres at second, but it’s likely the former will start the game on the bench.

All of which, the low-key LeMahieu said earlier this week, is just fine.

“There’s always a lot of focus on Opening Day, but it’s definitely a marathon,” LeMahieu said of the 162-game regular season.

LeMahieu, who signed a six-year, $90 million free-agent deal to return to the Yankees in January 2021, ended up playing in 145 games in 2019, a season in which LeMahieu hit .327 with an .893 OPS and earned his third All-Star Game berth.

“You see guys moving around positions a little bit more than in the past couple years,” LeMahieu said. “I think that will only benefit us staying on the field. Sometimes in the past, if a guy goes down here or there, it’s [the lineup] really taken a big hit. Injuries are going to happen, but when we hit those bumps in the road, hopefully we have guys that are more prepared to step up.”

In the 2019 season opener, Miguel Andujar started at third, Troy Tulowitzki at short (speaking of forgotten chapters of franchise history), Torres was at second and Greg Bird at first. Andujar would soon go down with an injury as would Tulowitzki and Bird, and LeMahieu by mid-April was an everyday lineup staple.

Injuries are a concern with this Yankees team. Donaldson is 36 and has a history of calf ailments, but the player to watch out of the gate will be Torres, coming off a miserable year in the field and at the plate. Torres’ poor play at short in 2021 caused the Yankees to abandon that experiment in September, but his rough year offensively — he hit .259 with nine homers and a .697 OPS in 127 games — created the bigger issue for the club, whose offense never reached the heights predicted for it.

The 25-year-old Torres, to be sure, will be on a short leash.  

LeMahieu has his own bad 2021 season to rebound from. Things started poorly for him and never really improved. He battled a sports hernia much of the second half of the season that would require offseason surgery and finished with a .268 batting average and .711 OPS in 150 games.

LeMahieu said his down season caused him to have a “heightened focus” in his winter work, primarily on taking extra care of his body.

“I feel really good,” LeMahieu said. “I think the team is in a really good spot. The shortened spring has put an emphasis on quality over quantity, which I think has helped us. So I think it’s been good.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.