Second baseman DJ LeMahieu and the New York Yankees are finalizing a six-year $ 90 million contract, ESPN sources familiar with the deal said Jeff Passan.
LeMahieu finished third in the American League MVP voting after winning the AL batting title with an MLB-leading .364 average during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, becoming just the fourth player in Yankees history to win the majors in that category, along with Mickey Mantle (.353 in 1956), Joe DiMaggio (.381 in 1939) and Lou Gehrig (.363 in 1934).
It was the second batting title in his career for 32-year-old LeMahieu, who won the National League crown with a 0.348 batting average for the Colorado Rockies in 2016. He was the only player to join Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty (1899, 1902) players to win batting titles in both competitions.
LeMahieu had turned down a one-year qualifying offer of $ 18.9 million from the Yankees.
While he spent most of his playing time at second base, LeMahieu, who made $ 12 million in 2020, also saw action at first and third base. He has elite contacting skills and record discipline, finishing the season with 10 home runs, including an MLB best seven to the other field, 41 runs scored and 27 RBIs, and led the AL in on-base percentage (.421) , OPS (1.011) and OPS + (177).
“If you add up the last two years in Major League Baseball, he’s shortlisted from the shortlist because he’s the best player in the sport,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after the regular season. “He has had so much impact. He always seems to perform at the greatest moments.”
In two seasons with the Yankees, LeMahieu has a .336 batting average over 195 games, with 36 homeruns, 129 RBI’s, 150 runs scored and a .922 OPS. During that period, he led the majors with 80 multihit games and was second with 268 hits while posting a .384 batting average with runners in scoring position.
He also defied the perceived norm by hitting home runs more often while playing for the Yankees (every 24 at bats) than with the Rockies (76).
The only hiccup in his 2020 season came when he landed on the list with 10 days injured in August after spraining his thumb during a tricky swing. It was the second time he’d injured that thumb; he also broke a bone when he was with the Rockies in 2018.
The three-time All-Star roster has a Silver Slugger Award (2019) and three Gold Glove Awards (2014, 2017, 2018) to its credit, showing its worth on the board and in the field. In 2018, while with the Rockies, he led all major divisions in defensive regression analysis.
In 10 Major League-seasons, LeMahieu, a second-round pick of the Chicago Cubs in the 2009 draft, has a .305 batting average with 85 home runs, 478 RBI’s, 651 runs and a .787 OPS.
ESPN’s Marly Rivera contributed to this report.