HOUSTON — DJ LeMahieu is dealing with a non-displaced fracture on the top of his right foot, Aaron Boone said Saturday.
The Yankees’ third baseman was initially diagnosed with a significant bone bruise after fouling a pitch off his foot during a spring training game on March 16. However, a second MRI, administered on Friday, revealed the fracture after swelling went down.
“It’s kind of akin to the bone bruise,” Boone said. “Basically, a lot of the edema has subsided, so you get a better look at it. So it’s that, which doesn’t really change much. It’s kind of tolerance as he builds up, and the last two days have been good.
“I know he feels a lot better.”
Boone did not want to give a timetable for LeMahieu. When pressed, he said that an end of April return is possible, but the skipper wanted to be clear: Boone wasn’t guaranteeing anything.
LeMahieu will get more imaging in two weeks, and the Yankees will take things from there.
In the meantime, the 35-year-old will continue to do tolerable baseball activities. That includes indoor hitting and throwing. LeMahieu hit off a tee and threw on Thursday, and he’s done some fielding since suffering the injury.
LeMahieu’s right foot is the same one that compromised him in 2022, so the Yankees weren’t going to rush him back whether he had a bruise or a break.
“It’s added concern, which is why we’re not pushing it,” Boone said. “Like it’s not something that he’s going to play through. He’s going to be 100 percent. And I think the sense is that it should be, over time here, fine.”
The Yankees expected the versatile LeMahieu to be their everyday third baseman, and Boone had talked him up as a preferred leadoff hitter.
Boone had the red-hot Oswaldo Cabrera start the Yankees’ first three games at third. Meanwhile, Gleyber Torres led off in the first three games.
In addition to Cabrera, the newly-acquired Jon Berti can man third. Jahmai Jones has dabbled there as well, though he’s more of a second baseman.
Oswald Peraza would have been a candidate for playing time at third, but he suffered a shoulder strain prior to LeMahieu’s injury and is also on the IL.
