Just when we thought the New York Yankees were out, Matt Chapman pulled them right back in. In a surprising turn of events, the Pinstripes are now linked with the Gold Glove-winning Scott Boras client. Even though the Yankees are currently flush with infielders, it looks like they’d like even more security in that part of the ballpark. 

But what this means is that there could be a huge competition brewing inside the Yankees Clubhouse. The player most affected by the potential entry of Chapman happens to be DJ LeMahieu. With both players having a below-average season in 2023, there’s a genuine question regarding who’d be better for the Pinstripes if rumors turn into facts and Chapman becomes a Yankee. 

The competition within the New York Yankees

Despite him winning the Gold Glove award last season, there’s a consensus among baseball faithful that Matt Chapman was not at his best. His hitting was off, especially his slugging abilities. One other person suffered from a similar fate – DJ LeMahieu, but by the end, he had regained much of his luster. But it looks like in their bad years, Chapman was quite better than LeMahieu. 

According to Stathead, when one puts Chapman head to head with LeMahieu, there’s a huge difference between the two right from the beginning. Chapman has a WAR of 4.4, while LeMahieu’s has declined to 1.3. This stat is enough to show the high difference between the quality of their performances, but one can go a little deeper as well.

Chapman in 2023 had 122 hits, 17 home runs, 54 RBI, and 4 Stolen Bases. Overall, the slugger slashed .240/.330/.424/.755. Despite these numbers being below average for Chapman, they are much better than LeMahieu’s during the same time frame. 

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LeMahieu had 121 hits, 15 home runs, 44 RBI, and 2 Stolen Bases. The only thing he was better than Chapman was the hitting average, as the slugger slashed .243/.327/.390/.718. So in raw numbers, Chapman looks better, but sometimes the numbers can tell a different tale and there’s a slight difference in these players’ expected roles.

Could LeMahieu get ahead of Matt Chapman?

These numbers of LeMahieu are heavily tiled towards his brilliant comeback in the latter half of the season. The slugger was barely connecting with the ball and that was problematic because he’s a primary contact hitter of the Yankees. This is the crux of this story – ‘Chapman is a slugger and LeMahieu is more of a contact hitter’. 

When looking at these numbers from a different lens, Chapman’s numbers look a little low for a slugger while LeMahieu’s look good for a contact hitter. The real question is – what do the Yankees want? Do they want another slugger or do they need a contact hitter to lead their sluggers off?

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