DJ LeMahieu

Did You Know?

• LeMahieu is the President of the Royal Oak Leprechauns, a summer collegiate team in the Northwoods League.
• He earned the nickname 'LeMachine' from Yankees teammate Gary Sánchez and was also called 'Big Fundy' for his fundamentally sound techniques.
• LeMahieu and his wife Jordan married in 2014; their first child, a daughter, was born on May 25, 2021.

Early life and career

LeMahieu started out in Visalia, California, before his family relocated to Madison, Wisconsin, while he was in middle school, and later to Michigan. He went to Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township, where he played both shortstop and pitcher. During his senior year, he hit leadoff and posted a .574 average, with eight homers, 16 doubles, seven triples, 70 runs, 32 RBIs, and 39 steals, while striking out just twice in 92 at-bats. Over his high school career, he batted .459 and collected 201 hits. As a junior, he was named an Aflac All-American, and he was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year and Louisville Slugger Player of the Year for Michigan. After graduating, the Detroit Tigers picked him in the 41st round of the 2007 MLB draft, but he chose not to sign and went to college instead.

College career

LeMahieu enrolled at Louisiana State University to play for the LSU Tigers. As a freshman in 2008, he started 67 of 68 games, hit .337, and helped LSU reach NCAA postseason play for the first time since 2005. In the Baton Rouge regional, he was named to the All-Tournament team after hitting .300 and scoring seven runs. Between his two college seasons, he played for the 2008 Harwich Mariners in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was named a league all-star, earned the team's regular-season MVP award, and was ranked the No. 6 prospect in the league by Baseball America; the Mariners won the League Championship Series for the first time in 21 years.

As a sophomore, he was a preseason All American selection by Collegiate Baseball. He opened 2009 with a 9-game hitting streak that extended a previous 16-game streak, totaling 25 consecutive games with a hit. He led the team in batting average (.350) and total hits (96). He led off the 11th inning with a walk, stole second, and scored the winning run.

LSU won the championship, and LeMahieu was named to the 2009 College World Series All-Tournament team after hitting .444 and leading all players with 12 hits.

Professional career

The Chicago Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round (79th overall) of the 2009 MLB draft. He played for the Peoria Chiefs of the Single-A Midwest League in 2009, hitting .316 with 30 runs batted in over 38 games. In 2010, with the Daytona Cubs of the High-A Florida State League, he batted .314 with 73 runs batted in and 15 stolen bases in 135 games, earning a post-season All-Star selection. He began 2011 with the Tennessee Smokies of the Double-A Southern League.

On May 30, 2011, the Cubs promoted him to the majors when Jeff Baker was placed on the disabled list; LeMahieu made his MLB debut that day as a pinch-hitter, grounding into a double play. He was demoted to the Iowa Cubs of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in June, returned to the majors in September, and was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star for 2011. On December 8, 2011, the Cubs traded LeMahieu and Tyler Colvin to the Colorado Rockies for Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart.

He began 2012 with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the PCL. On May 23, 2012, he was called up to replace injured Jonathan Herrera as a utility infielder, returned to Colorado Springs when Herrera was activated, and was recalled on July 17 when Chris Nelson was hospitalized. On August 14, he recorded a career-best four hits in a 9–6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Later that month, on August 28, he tied a major league record with 12 assists in a 9-inning victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 2014, he batted .267/.315/.348 with five home runs in 494 at bats, led the National League with an ultimate zone rating of 11.0, won his first Gold Glove with 16 Defensive Runs Saved, and led the majors with 99 double plays. He was the starting second baseman for the NL in the 2015 All-Star Game, his first All-Star selection. For the season, he batted .301 and led the majors in percentage of opposite field hits (39.0%) while seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (66.9%).

Batting profile

Despite a 6'4", 215 pound frame that suggested power-hitting potential, LeMahieu developed into a contact hitter who drove the ball to the opposite field. He used no leg kick and a low launch angle (average under 10 degrees), compensated by a high average exit velocity of 91.7 mph as of August 8, 2019, allowing extra-base hits without frequent long fly outs. Beginning with the 2019 season, he more often hit opposite field home runs than pulled home runs.