DJ LeMahieu, who exited the first game of his rehab assignment with right foot soreness that didn’t subside by Wednesday, will be shut down to receive treatment for at least the next seven days and be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.
The Yankees’ infielder has residual edema — or recurring swelling, manager Aaron Boone acknowledged — and underwent an MRI and CT scan Wednesday before the Yankees’ 7-3 win against the A’s.
LeMahieu struck out in his lone at-bat with Double-A Somerset on Tuesday before leaving, though general manager Brian Cashman said there wasn’t anything specific that prompted the soreness. It just materialized “all of a sudden.”
“It’s tough because DJ’s a big part of this team, what he’s been doing here the past couple seasons,” outfielder Aaron Judge said. “But the most important thing is him getting healthy. We roll when we got a healthy DJ.”
Boone said pregame that he wasn’t “overly concerned yet” despite another obstacle in a recovery that had already included a rehab-assignment delay. LeMahieu hasn’t played since fouling a ball off his foot March 16 in a spring training game.
So LeMahieu, who’d started to find a hitting rhythm with hits in four of his final five spring games, started the season on the injured list with a right foot contusion. The most promising step toward a return — and a chance to improve on his career-worst .243 average last year — arrived early last week, when the Yankees mapped out a rehab assignment that’d begin either April 18 or 19 and end with a return to the majors.
But another follow-up MRI prompted the Yankees to delay his stint with Somerset until Tuesday.
“A little bit,” Boone said when asked if LeMahieu’s soreness Tuesday surprised him, “because I know he’s been chomping at the bit because really, for the last two weeks, he’s felt really good. And what I’ve seen, just with my eyes watching him take ground balls, watching him hit, he’s looked really good.”
Until the setback, there was optimism about the 35-year-old’s return nearing.
A lineup in which most hitters outside of outfielder Juan Soto kept struggling could use a jolt from LeMahieu.
The Yankees’ depleted infield — with Jon Berti out with a strained left groin and nearing a rehab assignment that could begin as soon as this weekend — would get an everyday player back, too. But that situation became complicated.
But then after one at-bat, two swings, one foul ball, a strikeout and an early exit with Somerset, that situation became even more complicated.
“I feel like we’ve got a little bit of exposure, especially first-base coverage behind [Anthony] Rizzo,” Cashman said. “And left side of the infield coverage is a little bit exposed with Berti down, obviously LeMahieu down. We’re a little vulnerable right now because of that.”