LeMahieu ended the season with a .364 batting average, which was the highest in the American League. He was the fourth Yankee to lead the majors in hitting, the ninth Yankee to win an AL batting title, and the first to do so since Bernie Williams in 1998. LeMahieu was also the second player ever to win a batting title in each league (LeMahieu led the NL in 2016 with a .348 average playing for the Colorado Rockies) following Ed Delahanty, who hit .410 for Philadelphia (NL) in 1899 and .376 for Washington (AL) in 1902. However, LeMahieu became the first player in MLB's "modern era" to win a batting title in both the American and National Leagues. With teammate Luke Voit leading MLB with home runs (with 22), the duo became the first pair of teammates to lead MLB in batting average and home runs since Hank Aaron (.355) and Eddie Mathews (46 HR) did it in 1959 with the Milwaukee Braves. Coincidentally, he also became the second Yankees player in a row, after Paul O'Neill in 1994, to win a batting title in a shortened season before entering contract negotiations. LeMahieu also led the AL in OBP (.421), OPS (1.011), adjusted OPS+ (177), offensive win percentage (.813), and bWAR for position players (2.8). He won his second consecutive Silver Slugger Award and finished third in AL MVP voting behind José Abreu and José Ramírez.
David John LeMahieu (/ləˈmeɪhjuː/; born July 13, 1988) is an American professional baseball infielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies.
LeMahieu finished the 2019 season batting .327 with 26 home runs and 102 runs batted in during 145 games. He set new career highs in hits (197), doubles (33), home runs, runs batted in, runs scored (109), runs created (115), slugging percentage (.518), adjusted OPS+ (135), isolated power (.191), total bases (312), offensive WAR (5.2), fWAR (5.4), and bWAR (5.9). He had the lowest pull percentage of all major league batters (27.9%) and posted remarkably consistent stats all-round (his lowest monthly batting average was .282 in July, while his home/road and pre/post All-Star splits were .338/.318 and .336/.316 respectively). Additionally, besides ranking second in the American League in batting average behind Tim Anderson, he became the first Yankee to qualify for the batting title with a .300+ batting average since Canó in 2013, and posted the highest batting average for a Yankee player since Derek Jeter hit .334 in 2009. LeMahieu was awarded the Silver Slugger Award for the first time in his career, was named to the inaugural All-MLB First Team for second base, and finished fourth in the AL MVP voting behind Mike Trout, Alex Bregman, and Marcus Semien.
The Chicago Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft with the 79th overall selection. He played for the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League in 2009 after the draft. In 38 games, he hit .316 with 30 runs batted in. He spent the 2010 season with the Daytona Cubs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, batting .314 with 73 runs batted in and 15 stolen bases in 135 games, going on to earn a Florida State League post-season All-Star selection.
The Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft out of LSU, and he made his MLB debut for the Cubs in 2011 before being traded to the Rockies before the 2012 season. With Colorado, LeMahieu won Gold Glove Awards in 2014, 2017, and 2018, was named an All-Star in 2015 and 2017, and won the National League batting title in 2016. As a free agent after the 2018 season, he signed a two-year contract with the Yankees, where he has played as a third baseman, second baseman, and occasionally as a first baseman.
On December 8, 2011, the Cubs traded LeMahieu and Tyler Colvin to the Colorado Rockies for Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart. He began the 2012 season with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the PCL.
On May 23, 2012, LeMahieu was called up to the major leagues to replace injured Jonathan Herrera as a utility infielder. He returned to Colorado Springs when Herrera was activated, and was recalled to the Rockies on July 17 when Chris Nelson was hospitalized. On August 14, he recorded a career-best four hits in a 9–6 Rockies win over the Milwaukee Brewers and in his first game against his former team, the Chicago Cubs, LeMahieu registered three hits in four at bats. Later in August, LeMahieu wrote his name into the record books, as he recorded 12 assists in a 9-inning victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the 28th. This mark tied a record held by several players.
In 2014, LeMahieu batted .267/.315/.348 with five home runs in 494 at bats. Defensively, he had an ultimate zone rating of 11.0, which was first in the National League (NL) and third in the majors. He won his first Gold Glove with 16 Defensive Runs Saved and led the majors with 99 double plays.
LeMahieu and his wife, Jordan, were married in 2014. They reside in Birmingham, Michigan, during the offseason, and in New York City during the season. They welcomed their first child, a daughter, on May 25, 2021.
In 2016, LeMahieu won the NL batting title after batting .439 in August and .363 in September. His .348 season average led all of MLB. For the season, he had the highest batting average on balls in play (.388) of all major league players, and again led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (37.9%).
LeMahieu was selected to the 2017 MLB All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Dee Gordon. He batted .310 and for the third consecutive year led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (38.3%), while seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (67.0%). Also again in 2017, LeMahieu collected the NL Gold Glove for second basemen. Additionally, he won the Fielding Bible Award for all major league second basemen.
On January 14, 2019, LeMahieu signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the New York Yankees. The Yankees anticipated using LeMahieu as a utility infielder. He made his Yankees debut on March 30 at Yankee Stadium, going 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored in a 5-3 loss to the Orioles. After getting off to a strong start, LeMahieu had a superb month of June. He reached base safely in all but one game, and also put together a 14-game hitting streak from June 14 to June 30 (including 6 consecutive multi-hit games from June 23–30). In the two-game London Series (which marked the halfway mark of the Yankees season) at the end of June, LeMahieu had seven hits in 12 at bats, three doubles and seven runs batted in, helping the Yankees to sweep the Red Sox in the series. This won LeMahieu his first career Player of the Week award, which he followed up by winning the June AL Player of the Month Award for the first time (batting .395/.434/.658 with 6 home runs, 29 runs batted in, 26 runs scored, and 45 hits) and being elected as the starting second baseman for the All-Star game.
Despite his 6'4", 215 pound frame that led many scouts to suggest that he had potential as a pure power hitter, LeMahieu became a powerful opposite field contact hitter. His tendency to not leg kick, and hit for contact with low launch angle (average of under 10 degrees) was compensated by his high exit velocity (91.7 mph average as of August 8, 2019), meaning he can still hit for extra bases while not getting long fly outs. Since the 2019 season, he more often hits opposite field home runs than pulled home runs.
His versatility on defense and hitting ability earned LeMahieu the nickname "LeMachine" from Yankees teammate Gary Sánchez. He was also called "Big Fundy" due to his fundamentally sound techniques. With the Yankees, he was named a starter on the 2019 All-Star team, and won his first career Silver Slugger Award that year. LeMahieu won the American League batting title in 2020, becoming the first player in the modern era to win a batting title in each league.
In 2021 he batted .268/.349/.362, and had the lowest pull percentage in the major leagues (at 24.8%), and the highest opposite field percentage (at 35.8%).
On January 27, 2021, LeMahieu signed a six-year, $90 million deal in free agency to return to the Yankees. On May 7, 2021 during a game against the Washington Nationals, LeMahieu recorded his 300th career hit with the Yankees, doing so in his 225th game. This was the second fastest in team history behind Joe DiMaggio, who accomplished the feat in 200 games.
In 2022, LeMahieu batted .261/.357/.377 in 467 at bats with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs. 60.1% of the pitches to him were fastballs, the highest percentage of those to any major leaguer. He swung at a lower percentage of pitches in the strike zone (54.7%) than any other major league batter. He became the first recipient of the American League Gold Glove Award for a utility player.