Tampa – DJ lemahieu went this offseason for two months without swinging the bat.
It was the longest time he remembered going without picking up the bat, but the 36-year-old tried anything in his career to make him completely healthy again.
And while the Yankees infielder felt good when he started shaking again in January, he's been experiencing enough to know how important it is.
“It's easy to feel better in January,” Lemahew said with a wry smile on Tuesday inside the Yankees Clubhouse in Stein Brenner Field.
The injury has hit Lemahieu over the past few seasons, stolen production of two batting champions. However, it is clear that Lemahieu has beaten himself in the meantime because he has not consistently put on a suit with his teammates and is unable to maintain the end of his six-year, $90 million contract.
“It's difficult, it's difficult,” said Lemahieu, who has two years and $30 million in trade. “I definitely lost a lot of sleep, but it's hard to be a guy my team can't count on at times. I'm always proud of it, so I'm not going to be able to do it It's definitely frustrating. At the same time, I have not lost my passion for helping this team and my passion for this team. It keeps me moving.”
He is healthy and Lemahieu, who says the Yankees are expressing hope for a bounceback, has become as much a spring training ritual as pitcher Fielding practice.
The team raved about Lemahieu for most of last spring, fouling the ball from his foot a few days before St. Patrick's Day, until he suffered a non-displacement fracture.
A year ago, he was still dealing with broken toes and torn ligaments with another toe that derailed him later in the 2022 season.
As a result, Lemahieu is his shell on the plate, hitting just .232 with .663 OPS in 203 games over the past two years.
“For the majority of my career, I'll play mostly unless my leg is amputated,” Lemahieu said. “That was my way of thinking. I didn't go to the training room. I played it tied up and tied it up every day. Over the past few years, I had bumps and bruises, this, and that, and a broken leg, I was Things you can play in the past, it escalates and compoundes. I think that was the frustrating part. Was it a major injury? Maybe not. But that's what makes the past difficult That was frustrating.”
This spring, Lemahieu has a chance to win a 3 base job. The Yankees can desperately use if he returns to return to the nearer of his former batsman.
“It's the same game I've been playing for a long time. It's a little more difficult for me,” Lemaheew said. “But my passion for doing something special in this field and supporting this organization and my passion for supporting this team didn't really shake. But that's obviously a little more difficult for me. I feel good now. I have to find a way to keep it that way.”
