Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu tweaks calf during spring training debut in his latest injury worry

DJ LeMahieu is hurt again — this time, after just one spring training game.

The 36-year-old, who has been sidelined by foot and other lower-body injuries all too often over the past three years, suffered a left calf injury after just two at-bats in his Grapefruit League debut on Saturday against the Astros at Steinbrenner Field.

Aaron Boone said LeMahieu felt it during his second at-bat of the 9-3 win, when LeMahieu popped out.

DJ LeMahieu, pictured earlier in spring training, sustained an calf injury on March 1, 2025.

In an effort to try to keep him healthy, the Yankees didn’t have him play in a game through the first week of the spring training schedule and started him as the DH Saturday.

He struck out in his first at-bat and then popped to second.

Boone said he was planning on removing LeMahieu after the second at-bat, but that wasn’t enough to prevent another injury.

“That’s not ideal, [with] all he’s had to deal with, obviously,’’ Boone said. “We’ll see what we have there. We’ll see how significant it is.”

Less than two weeks ago, addressing his previous injury concerns, LeMahieu noted, “It’s easy to feel good in January.”

As he well knows, even getting to the end of March in one piece has proven to be difficult.

DJ LeMahieu is pictured during the Yankees’ workout on Feb. 23.

During that meeting with reporters earlier in the spring, LeMahieu added that he’d “definitely lost a lot of sleep” due to his injury woes with two years and $30 million remaining on the six-year, $90 million deal he signed prior to the 2021 season.

“It’s tough to be a guy the team can’t rely on at times,’’ LeMahieu added.

A year ago, in the midst of a solid spring that had the Yankees confident he could regain the form he displayed in his first two seasons in The Bronx, LeMahieu fouled a ball off his foot and suffered a non-displaced fracture that helped limit him to 67 games in the worst season of his career.

There was also the broken toe and torn ligament in a different toe that derailed LeMahieu in 2022 and into ’23.

Given that history, Boone acknowledged, “Those soft tissue things have popped up on him. It’s at least a little concerning.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is entrenched at second base, which leaves Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza — along with LeMahieu — vying for the job at third, as the Yankees have so far opted to fill the lone remaining infield vacancy from within rather than look for a free agent or trade for high-priced St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Cabrera, who turned 26 on Saturday, has shown value with his ability and willingness to play several different positions, but hasn’t hit consistently at the major league level and the 24-year-old Peraza’s career has stalled and he’s played only 74 games in the majors.

And any plans of LeMahieu finding the fountain of youth took another hit Saturday, coming off a season in which he finished with a career-low OPS of .527.

His mobility has decreased, as has his bat speed and any expectation that his offense would approach what it was in 2019 or the COVID-shortened 2020 was long gone.

But with quality bats elsewhere in the lineup, there would be less pressure on LeMahieu.

In order for the Yankees to get anything more out of LeMahieu, though, he has to be able to stay on the field and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that he’s no longer able to do that.

And that leaves an even bigger question mark for the Yankees at third base.