Gleyber Torres was on his way to Texas Tuesday to rejoin the Yankees and DJ LeMahieu is showing signs of cranking back into being “The Machine,” at least according to Aaron Boone.
Both developments could help alleviate some of the frantic hand-wringing over the Yankees’ disappointing offense so far this season. LeMahieu at the height of his considerable offensive powers would help the Yanks look more like the slugging juggernaut many expected and, while Torres (.625 OPS) has started slowly, he’s talented enough to hope for a rebound.
Torres was cleared by baseball’s Joint Committee to be activated off the Covid-19 Injured List, Boone said, and was expected to arrive at Globe Life Field sometime Tuesday night as the Yanks continued their series with the Rangers. The Yankees could activate him and insert him into the lineup as soon as Wednesday, the Yankee manager added. Torres worked out each of the past two days in Tampa.
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LeMahieu, meanwhile, recently has offered glimpses of the offense that made him one of baseball’s best hitters since donning pinstripes. He entered Tuesday’s game in Arlington, Texas, batting .277 with a .367 on-base percentage and a .368 slugging. He had struck out in 17% of his at-bats, though he also leads the Yanks with 13 multi-hit games.
Over his first two years with the Yankees, LeMahieu slashed .336/.386/.536 and his K% was 13.7% in 2019 and 9.7% last season, so his power’s dipped while his strikeouts have jumped.
“That’s really been it,” Boone said of LeMahieu’s start. LeMahieu was 2-for-4 Monday night and looked “more D.J.-ish,” Boone said.
“I was really encouraged by his at-bats,” the manager added. “Stung a couple balls in the middle and smoked that last ball to right field, where I thought he was really behind it and drove it.
“He’s set the bar really high and working hard to get to that level where we know he’s ‘The Machine.’ These last couple games, I feel like he’s starting to really move and lock it in a little bit.”
The Yanks could use him getting back to his old levels. Giancarlo Stanton has been lethal, but he’s hurt again. Aaron Judge, the reigning AL player of the week, is soaring and Gio Urshela has been a reliable producer, but there’s a long list of struggling Yankees.
The team entered Tuesday night averaging four runs per game, which ranked 22nd in the Major Leagues. The MLB average is 4.37, according to baseball-reference.com, but these Yanks are supposed to be anything but average, even if offense is down across the game. While they were tied for second with 56 home runs, the Yanks were just 19th in OPS (.701) and 24th in batting average (.225).
The Yanks, whose lineup tilts right-handed, activated Rougned Odor from the IL Tuesday and he could help give them more of a lefty presence. With Odor back, Boone started him at second Tuesday and shifted LeMahieu to third and Urshela to short.
Odor provided several big hits before he injured his knee against the Astros earlier this month, but he was still only batting .164 with a .632 OPS. And the Yankees could use greater production from the few lefty hitters they employ. Entering Tuesday, Yankee lefties were batting only .168 with a .540 OPS. Both marks are the worst in MLB.
Boone says he’s not worried about any lineup imbalances, though he allows that it can be useful in certain matchups. Brett Gardner is the only lefty regular beyond Odor, who likely shifts to the bench when Torres returns.
“We’re a very capable offense and expect a lot,” Boone said. “You never know where the twists and turns take you, but the bottom line is, with what we have, we’re very capable.”
Boone also pointed to several “underlying” stats that “suggest we’re in line with who we typically are.” The Yankees are second in MLB in walk rate (11.2%), which is good. They are also tied with the Padres for hitting into the most double plays (41). That’s obviously bad.
“We haven’t done that damage,” Boone said. “We’ve hit into a high number of double plays.
“There are things that suggest we’re real close. I certainly feel like we’ve been trending that way in the last few weeks. Obviously, we haven’t really broken through like we all know we’re capable of.
“We obviously need to hit a few more balls in the air, to the pull side. A few too many balls, when we’ve had a chance to do damage, we’ve hit on the ground.”