The New York Yankees have continued to slump after the All-Star break, and manager Aaron Boone has seen multiple players lose their way at the plate since a great start to the season. One of those players is DJ Lemahieu, who has struggled to find his batting stroke for two months.
Boone benched Lemahieu for Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays and replaced the third baseman with Oswaldo Cabrera, and he had 2 hits in 4 at bats and scored 1 run. Cabrera has a slash line of .237/.286/.340 with 5 home runs and 27 runs batted in. The Yankees dropped their second straight game to the Rays as the pitching staff allowed 4 home runs in a 6-4 defeat
Lemahieu battled injuries at the start of the season and he has been unproductive since returning to the lineup. He has a .154 batting average and has delivered just one extra-base hit in July. He has a .472 OPS through 39 games. Boone was asked if Lemahieu would return to the regular lineup in Monday's series finale against the Rays, and the manager refused to give any assurances that the veteran would get that opportunity.
Boone is clearly frustrated at Lemahieu's lack of production. He had mentioned earlier in the week that the veteran's spot in the lineup was not guaranteed. However, he later said that Lemahieu had earned the right to play through a slump based on his past performances.
Lemahieu is searching for answers but he can't find them
Lemahieu has demonstrated he can hit throughout the majority of his career. He is one of the few hitters who has won a batting title in each league, and he is noted for his ability to hit line drives when the game is on the line.
However, those days appear to be over, and the veteran is frustrated with his own performance. Still, he believes that he will be able to recapture his past success.
“I mean, it hasn't given me much hope the last month or so,” LeMahieu said. “As long as I've played this game, whatever challenge has presented itself, I've always come out of it, one way or another. So it's just keep showing up and keep working and it's gotten me a lot of success in my career.”
DJ Lemahieu started the season on the injured list for the Yankees. He broke his foot during spring training, and after taking time off for the injury to heal, he had to get his timing back. He has struggled to do just that and the Yankees clearly miss Lemahieu providing timely hits.
Yankees offense is dependent on Aaron Judge and Juan Soto
The Yankees have a pair of All-Stars that they can depend on for offensive production in Judge and Soto, but the attack has regularly stalled outside of those two. Judge hit a 3-run home run in the seventh inning of Sunday's loss and Soto had an RBI in the ninth inning, but none of their teammates were able to deliver any productive hits.
Yankees fans have shown their frustration in recent weeks by booing the team's performance at Yankee Stadium. After opening the season with an outstanding 50-22 mark, the Yankees are just 9-20 since then.
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