The New York Yankees have been suffering from a case of invisible bats recently, as the offense has been mostly dormant since Giancarlo Stanton went down with a hamstring strain in June. The Bronx Bombers, who can hardly afford more injuries had another scare in Wednesday night's 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Infielder DJ LeMahieu fouled a ball off his neck but did not sustain a concussion or any serious ailments, via MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.
“DJ LeMahieu had a precautionary CT scan after fouling a ball off his neck last night, [manager] Aaron Boone said,” Hoch tweeted. “It came back clean.”
LeMahieu, who has been snakebitten with injuries this year, got the night off on Thursday. The 35-year-old fouled a ball off his foot in spring training, causing his season debut to be delayed until May 28th. He also was hit by a pitch on his left pinky on Wednesday.
Boone feels like LeMahieu is in “a good spot,” via Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News.
“There's definitely been some freak things that have popped up on him and happened to him, really over the last couple of years,” Boone said. “It's stalled some seasons for him. Hopefully, this is something that's not getting in the way of him getting it rolling here.”
LeMahieu has yet to “get it rolling” so far, as he's slashing .202/.296/.229 with no homers and 11 RBI. The 35-year-old has just three extra-base hits in 126 plate appearances, with all three being doubles.
If the two-time batting champion doesn't turn a corner soon, this will be his worst year in the big leagues by far. Will he be able to help give New York's offense a much-needed lift?
LeMahieu must regain his power to be a difference-maker for the Yankees
LeMahieu has made contact, but he hasn't driven the ball well. The Louisiana State alum currently has a hard-hit percentage of 38 and a ground-ball percentage of 57.6, both career-worst marks. However, New York hitting coach James Roswon is keeping a positive outlook, via The Athletic's Chris Kirschner.
“I think we’re going to see the contact quality improve,” Rowson said. “I think a lot of those things are byproducts of the inconsistency of the flow of at-bats right now. I think it’s coming. As we see him square up more balls consistently in the game, you’re going to see the quality contact go up and the ground-ball rate go down.”
Rowson may be on to something, as LeMahieu's barrel percentage is now at 7.6, which is a career-high. A “barrel” is a hit that typically results in a .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
“The underlying numbers tend to get better when your consistency of barreling up the baseball on time starts to happen,” Rowson continued. “I am optimistic about him. You see the numbers, but I also look at the back of his baseball card over his time as a major leaguer. This league is about making adjustments and he’s always proven that he can make them. I think he’s going to continue doing that and we should get the better version of DJ.”
If LeMahieu continues to barrel the ball consistently, it's only a matter of time before he returns to form. However, he'll have to rely on the injury bug not returning, as ailments only get harder to deal with as players age.
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