Yankees scratch DJ LeMahieu, send Aroldis Chapman to injured list

The Yankees made a flurry of moves today, officially placing Aroldis Chapman on the 15-day injured list and recalling Kyle Higashioka from the COVID-IL. They also scratched DJ LeMahieu from tonight’s game with left wrist soreness.

The series of maneuvers represents in part the Yankees’ first real brush with adversity this season. They made it through April and part of May with a remarkably low number of injuries, but in the last week or so, Chapman, Chad Green, and Luis Gil have each suffered injuries, with Green and Gil likely each done for the year. COVID has struck as well, afflicting Higashioka and Josh Donaldson.

Perhaps most concerning is the ailment of LeMahieu. As our Josh Diemert astutely noted in the Pinstripe Alley slack today, LeMahieu has probably been playing through wrist pain for a period of days now, as you can see in the recent dip in his rolling wOBA:

Hopefully, the injuries to Chapman and LeMahieu aren’t too serious. For now, the important thing is getting the veterans healthy; there’s no use trotting them out there when poor health leads to poor performance, as appears to have happened in both of these cases.

The Yankees brought back Higashioka, but have yet to return Donaldson from a spell with COVID. We’ll keep you updated on when the third baseman is set to re-enter the lineup.