Aaron Boone's DJ LeMahieu strategy pays off for now with slump-breaking HR

The New York Yankees have been struggling for a while now, but nobody on their team has struggled more than DJ LeMahieu, a player who was in MVP conversations five years ago.

The 36-year-old entered Monday's series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays slashing .177/.270/.202 without a single home run in 142 plate appearances. What's even crazier is that his play has looked even worse than the numbers suggest, if that's even possible.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone has consistently defended New York's third baseman saying that the team is going to continue to play him with regularity. They gave him Sunday's game off in the midst of an 0-for-17 slump, and for the second time this season, the strategy of resting a slumping player worked in Boone's favor.

LeMahieu did the impossible. He hit his first home run of the season. He got a hanging sweeper from Rays starter Zack Littell and hit it into the first row of the left field seats. It only went 368 feet, but it counts the same as if it went 468.

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DJ LeMahieu makes Aaron Boone look good with slump-busting home run

At first, it looked as if Monday's game was going to be a rough one for LeMahieu who struck out his first time up. His second at-bat of the game negated that, as he hit the home run.

Not only was it just LeMahieu's fourth extra-base hit of the season, but it was his first home run since September 4 of last season. It had been a major struggle for LeMahieu who frankly has been in decline since finishing third in the AL MVP balloting back in 2020.

The Yankees hope that this gets LeMahieu going, much like it did with the struggling Gleyber Torres briefly. The Yankees gave Torres two games off amid his struggles and he returned to the lineup with a vengeance, recording six hits in 13 at-bats in his first three games back including a home run. Unfortunately, Torres has cooled off again in July, posting a .613 OPS this month while also continuing to struggle in the field.

Clearly, the day of rest revitalized LeMahieu for at least one game. Is it really sustainable though? That's hard to say when he has played as poorly as he has. If he can hit the ball in the air more like he did in this one at-bat, though, who knows?