Aaron Judge on DJ LeMahieu: 'He's going to be missed'

Though the Yankees’ decision to designate infielder DJ LeMahieu for assignment on Wednesday was wholly expected, it came as a jolt to the clubhouse.

“Seeing how this played out is tough,” captain Aaron Judge said before Thursday night’s game against the Mariners at the Stadium. “He meant a lot to this team, a lot to us in this clubhouse.”

LeMahieu, 36, was among the longest-tenured Yankees, coming aboard before the 2019 season on a two-year, $24 million deal and signing a six-year, $90 million free-agent contract before the 2021 season. Though he was one of the quietest players in the clubhouse during that time —  in public, with the media and, to a lesser degree, with his teammates — no one commanded more respect among his peers.

“He just was a good example,” Judge said. “He was a good veteran presence, a good example for our young players here. I know Anthony Volpe, Wellsy [Austin Wells], all those guys, learned a lot from him. He’s going to be missed.”

LeMahieu getting DFA’d was not a surprise, particularly given the comments of manager Aaron Boone on Tuesday. Boone, discussing the organization's decision to shift Jazz Chisholm Jr. from third base to second base, where LeMahieu had been playing primarily since coming off the injured list on May 13, strongly indicated the 15-year veteran’s time with the club  soon might be coming to an end.

“I think physically it’s a challenge for him right now,” Boone said of playing LeMahieu at third. “So no, right now no plans of doing that.”

Because of his struggles the last few years, many of those caused by a slew of various injuries, it  has been forgotten somewhat how well things started out for LeMahieu as a Yankee.

He hit .327 with 26 home runs and an .893 OPS in 2019, earning his third career All-Star bid. In the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, he won the American League batting crown, hitting .364 and also recording career highs with a .421 on-base percentage, .590 slugging percentage and 1.011 OPS. He became the first player in 118 years to win a batting crown in both leagues, joining Ed Delahanty; Luis Arraez subsequently did it, too.

LeMahieu hit a clutch two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS against the Astros’ Roberto Osuna. That blast, which tied it at 4-4, was relegated to the dustbin of franchise history after Jose Altuve’s walk-off two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the ninth sent Houston to the World Series.

“It’s definitely not forgotten,” Judge said. “I know we lost that game, but it didn’t matter if it was a postgame Game 6 in a big moment or if it was a game in the middle of July where not too many people are watching, he showed up every single day for us. He committed to the team, he committed to all of us and he’s going to be missed. We can talk about what he did as a player [and] he was a quiet guy, but what he did in this clubhouse, how he led by example, the moments he’d spend with the young guys talking, those will be remembered.”

As LeMahieu's injuries mounted in recent years — including when he suffered a left calf strain on March 1 in his first game of 2025 spring training  — Judge said he could tell how much it killed him to not be on the field.

“Baseball is DJ’s life,” Judge said. “That’s all he talked about, that’s all he wanted to talk about, that’s all he knew, going all the way back to his days playing at LSU. He’s a gamer. He wore it on his jersey. The amount of times I’d see him come in here and his jersey’s completely dirty from diving, sliding all over the field . . . the injuries definitely bothered him, just because he wanted to be out there, he wanted to be out there and be there for the team. When he couldn’t physically do that, that definitely hurt him, because he cared about the team. Tough how it ended.”

From 2021 to 2025, LeMahieu had a .253/.336/.360 slash line and played in only 523 games. The former Gold Glover at second base also lost some of his range. Oddly, he went 7-for-15 in his final six games as a Yankee.

General manager Brian Cashman, speaking Wednesday after the move became official, acknowledged the difficulty of the decision, which he said LeMahieu handled “like a pro.”

“I made the decision that I thought was best for us as we move forward,” Cashman said. “He’s a great player, he’s a great person, he’s done great things here. Obviously, the last few years have not been what he or we hoped for here, but that’s also part of the game.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.