NEW YORK -- On Tuesday, the New York Yankees were hopeful that DJ LeMahieu could make his season debut as early as next week. By Wednesday, those tentative plans were dashed.
LeMahieu will be shut down for at least a week, the team said, after being removed from the first game of his rehab assignment Tuesday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said LeMahieu underwent testing Wednesday and was diagnosed with residual edema, or recurring swelling, in his right foot, which he fractured over a month ago. He'll be reevaluated in seven days. His timeline to play in major league games is unclear.
"We'll keep reevaluating week by week," Boone said.
LeMahieu, 35, has been sidelined since fouling a pitch off his foot during a spring training game on March 16. He had been scheduled to play in minor league games Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday before perhaps joining the Yankees in Baltimore next week.
He batted first for the Double-A Somerset Patriots on Tuesday, striking out to lead off the game. He then played third base in the bottom of the first inning, but he didn't take the field for the second after experiencing pain in the foot. His rehab assignment ended there.
"It's tough because DJ is a big part of this team, what we've been doing here that past couple of seasons," Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge said. "But the most important thing is him getting healthy. We roll when we got a healthy DJ."
A two-time batting champion, LeMahieu missed the 2022 postseason with a broken toe in his right foot, which preceded ligament damage. Without him this season, the Yankees have had Oswaldo Cabrera start 20 of their 25 games at third base. The switch-hitting Cabrera is batting .263 with three home runs and a .730 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.