Second baseman DJ LeMahieu and the New York Yankees are finalizing a six-year, $ 90 million contract, sources familiar with the deal said to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
LeMahieu finished third in the American League MVP standings after winning the AL batting title with an average of 0.364 in the MLB leadership during the shortened 2020 season pandemic, becoming only the fourth player in the history of the Yankees to lead the champions in that category, along with Mickey Mantle (0.353 in 1956), Joe DiMaggio (0.381 in 1939) and Lou Gehrig (0.363 in 1934).
It was the second batting title in LeMahieu’s 32-year career, which won the National League title with a batting average of 0.348 to the Colorado Rockies in 2016. He entered the Ed Delahanty Hall of Fame (1899, 1902 ) as the only players to win hitting titles in both leagues.
LeMahieu rejected a $ 18.9 million one-year qualification offer from the Yankees.
Although he saw most of his playing time on second base, LeMahieu, who won $ 12 million in 2020, was also in action on first and third base. He has elite contact skills and plaque discipline, ending the season with 10 home runs, including an MLB-best seven for the opposite field, 41 scheduled runs and 27 RBIs, and he led the AL in percentage at the base (0.421) , OPS (1,011) and OPS + (177).
“If you add up the last two years in the Major League Baseball, he is on the short list for being the best player in the sport,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone after the regular season. “He’s been so impressive. In the best moments, he always seems to deliver.”
In two seasons with the Yankees, LeMahieu has a batting average of 0.336 in 195 games, with 36 home runs, 129 RBIs, 150 scheduled runs and 0.922 OPS. During this period, he led the championships with 80 multihit games and was second with 268 strokes, posting a streak average of 0.384 with runners in the scoring position.
He also challenged the perceived norm by hitting home runs more often while playing for the Yankees (every 24 appearances on the board) than in the Rockies (76).
The only hiccup in his 2020 season came when he fell on the 10-day injury list in August, after twisting his thumb on a strange swing. It was the second time he had hurt his thumb; he also broke a small bone while in the Rockies in 2018.
The three-star All-Star selection has a Silver Slugger Award (2019) and three Gold Glove Awards (2014, 2017, 2018) in their name, showing their value on the plate and on the field. In 2018, while in the Rocky Mountains, he led all major leagues in defensive regression analysis.
In 10 major league seasons, LeMahieu, a second round pick by the Chicago Cubs in the 2009 draft, has a career hitting average of 0.305 with 85 home runs, 478 RBIs, 651 scheduled runs and 0.787 OPS.
ESPN’s Marly Rivera contributed to this report.