1. Early life and career

2. College career

3. Professional career
    Chicago Cubs  Colorado Rockies  New York Yankees 

4. Personal life

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

• Chicago Cubs ({{mlby|2011}})
• Colorado Rockies ({{mlby|2012}}–{{mlby|2018}})
• New York Yankees ({{mlby|2019}}–present)

• 2× All-Star (2015, 2017)
• 3× Gold Glove Award (2014, 2017, 2018)
• 3× Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award (2013, 2017, 2018)
• NL Batting Champion (2016)
• Fielding Bible Award (2017)

David John LeMahieu ({{IPAc-en|l|ə|ˈ|m|eɪ|h|j|uː|}}; born July 13, 1988) is an American professional baseball second baseman for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies.

The Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round of the 2009 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut for the Cubs in 2011 before being traded to the Rockies before the 2012 season. LeMahieu won a Gold Glove Award in 2014, 2017, and 2018 and was named an MLB All-Star in 2015 and 2017, and won the National League batting title in 2016. After becoming a free agent, he signed with the Yankees before the 2019 season.

Early life and career

LeMahieu was born in Visalia, California.^[1] His family moved to Michigan, and he attended Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan.^[2] He played as a shortstop and pitcher for the school's baseball team. In his senior year, as a leadoff hitter, he batted .574 with eight home runs, 16 doubles, seven triples, 70 runs scored, 32 runs batted in (RBIs), and 39 stolen bases. He recorded two strikeouts in 92 at bats. His career average in high school was .459 with 201 hits. As a junior, he was an Aflac All-American. He was also a two-time Gatorade player of the year and Louisville Slugger Player of the Year for the State of Michigan.^[3]

After his senior year at Brother Rice, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 MLB draft in the 41st round. He did not sign with the Tigers so that he could attend college.^[3]

College career

LeMahieu enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college baseball for the LSU Tigers. As a freshman at LSU, he started in 67 of 68 games. For the 2008 season, he hit .337 overall, and helped LSU reach the NCAA post-season play for the first time since 2005. In the post-season, he was selected to the All-Tournament team for the Baton Rouge regional after hitting .300 and scoring 7 runs during the regional. During his sophomore campaign, LeMahieu started 72 of the 73 games LSU played. He led the team in batting average .350 and hits with 96. He had a 25-game hitting streak spanning the last 16 games of 2008 and the first 9 games of 2009.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} During the 2009 season, Tigers' coach Paul Mainieri transitioned LeMahieu from a shortstop into a second baseman, so that Austin Nola could start at shortstop.^[4]

As a member of the LSU baseball program, LeMahieu participated in the 2008 and 2009 College World Series. LeMahieu was named a pre-season All American by Collegiate Baseball prior to the 2009 season. He was also named the No. 6 prospect in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2008 by Baseball America magazine.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} He helped lead LSU to the 2009 National Championship. LeMahieu was selected to the 2009 College World Series All-Tournament team. He hit .444 in the series leading all players in the series with 12 hits.^[5]

Professional career

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round, with the 79th overall selection, of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.^[6] 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 RBIs. He spent the 2010 season with the Daytona Cubs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, batting .314 with 73 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 135 games.^[7]

LeMahieu began the 2011 season with the Tennessee Smokies of the Class AA Southern League. On May 30, the Cubs promoted LeMahieu to the major leagues when Jeff Baker was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain.^[8] That day, LeMahieu made his major league debut pinch-hitting for the pitcher John Grabow, grounding into a double play. He did not stay in the game, a 12-7 loss to the Houston Astros.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} The Cubs demoted LeMahieu to the Iowa Cubs of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League in June. He returned to the major leagues in September.^[9]

Colorado Rockies

On December 8, 2011, the Cubs traded LeMahieu and Tyler Colvin to the Colorado Rockies for Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart.^[10]

The following May 23, 2012 LeMahieu was called up to the Major Leagues to replace injured Jonathan Herrera as a utility infielder. 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.^[11] 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 and third in the majors. He won his first Gold Glove^[12] with 16 Defensive Runs Saved^[13] and led the majors with 99 double plays.^[12]

LeMahieu was the starting second baseman for the National League in the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game; this was LeMahieu's first selection to the Midsummer Classic. For the season, he batted .301 and led the majors in percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (39.0%), while seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (66.9%).^[14][15]

In 2016, LeMahieu won the National League batting title after batting .439 in August and .363 in September.^[16] His .348 season average led all of Major League Baseball. 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%).^[17][18]

LeMahieu was selected to the 2017 MLB All-Star Game as an injury replacement for Dee Gordon.^[19] 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%).^[20][21] Also again in 2017, LeMahieu collected the National League Gold Glove for second basemen.^[22] Additionally, he won the Fielding Bible Award for all major league second basemen.^[23]

The 2018 season, while batting .276/.321/.428 LeMahieu hit a career-high 15 home runs, while he was tied for seeing the highest percentage of fastballs of all MLB hitters (63.6%).^[24][25] In addition to an increase in power numbers, his defensive excellence continued. LeMahieu finished the 2018 season with a 19.5 SDI ([https://sabr.org/sdi/2018-final#NL2B SABR Defensive Index]) highest of all National League players, and his 2.2 defensive WAR was eighth best among all of Major League Baseball. The .993 fielding percentage, .859 zone rating and 18 defensive runs saved were best for all NL second basemen. He earned both a third Gold Glove and a third Wilson Defensive Player of The Year Award.^[26]

New York Yankees

On January 14, 2019, LeMahieu signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the New York Yankees.^[27]

Personal life

LeMahieu and his wife, Jordan, were married in 2014.^[28]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Gold Glove Award winners at second base

References

External links

• Bio @ LSUsports.net
• {{Twitter}}

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