SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The banter was already lively and the mood upbeat as players began to file into the Colorado Rockies’ clubhouse at Salt River Fields right around 7:30 Friday morning. The Rockies were arriving early to get their daily workout in before taking on the Oakland Athletics in a spring training Cactus League game a little later in the day.
Standing in front of his locker near a back corner of the spacious clubhouse was second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who came into spring camp knowing that he will be manager Walt Weiss’s everyday second baseman when the Rockies begin the regular season April 6 in Milwaukee.
The slick-fielding LeMahieu is coming off a 2014 season that saw him win his first National League Rawlings Gold Glove Award after playing in a career-high 149 games. He played in nine of the Rockies’ first 15 Cactus League games coming into Friday as he works to ready for himself for the long regular season ahead.
“It’s going really well,” LeMahieu told PG Friday morning. “I feel good and I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
The 26-year-old LeMahieu has accomplished a lot during a baseball career that includes playing for Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield, Mich. (he graduated in 2007) while also participating in 10 Perfect Game events during his high school years. He went on to play for two years at Louisiana State University and began to play professionally in 2009 at age 20.
The Chicago Cubs selected LeMahieu in the second round of the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft and he landed in Colorado in December 2011 as part of a four-player trade that sent him and Tyler Colvin to the Rockies, with Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers getting shipped to Chicago.
LeMahieu made his major league debut with the Rockies on May 30, 2011, at the age of 22. He spent all or parts of five seasons in the minor leagues, including as recently as 33 games in 2013.
The Rockies have struggled mightily in the four years LeMahieu has been with the organization, winning only 43 percent of their games and finishing a combined 97 games out of first place in the National League West; they won 74 games in 2013, the most during that four-year stretch. Last year’s team finished 66-96 – 28 games behind the first place Los Angeles Dodgers – despite leading the league in hitting at .276.
That is a lot of losing over a four-year stretch – the Rockies, remember, reached the World Series in 2007 (Rocktober!) where they swept by the Boston Red Sox in four games – but LeMahieu feels the attitude in the clubhouse this spring has been nothing but positive.
“We’ve had a couple of seasons where we didn’t play very well so the expectations around the league for us aren’t very high,” he said. “I think we’re kind of taking that (to heart) a little bit and want to prove them wrong.”
LeMahieu’s role with the club has increased every year. He played in 37 games in 2011; 81 in 2012 (considered his rookie season); 109 in 2013 and 149 in 2014 when he became the Rockies’ full-time second baseman.
He is a career .276 hitter with 71 extra-base hits (nine home runs) among his 328 big-league hits. But if the Rockies are healthy he really doesn’t need to hit a ton for the team to be successful, not with guys like Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Morneau and Nolan Arenado hitting in front of him the lineup.
It is on the side of the defense where LeMahieu butters his bread. He sports a career .993 fielding percentage with only 11 errors in 1,467 chances. He had a .991 fielding percentage in 2014 (six errors, 676 chances) and earned the coveted NL Gold Glove Award.
“It felt really good,” LeMahieu said of the honor. “It’s something I worked really hard for and I didn’t think I was going to win it; to win was it was something that was pretty special. (Defense) was something that I was always strongest at growing up and I take a lot of pride in my defense. That’s what keeps me in the big leagues, for sure.”
His play defensively has, indeed, been his calling card since an early age, as noted by reports Perfect Game scouts filed from different showcase events in the mid-2000s. At that time, LeMahieu was a primary shortstop with hints that he might one day move over to third.
After he earned a perfect 10.0 PG Grade at the 2006 PG National Showcase in Fayetteville, Ark., the scouting report read: “On defense … he goes to and through the ball well and has good feet. His arm is a plus and his release is quick.”
Another report, from the 2005 PG Midwest Top Prospect Showcase, read: “(LeMahieu) has easy gliding actions on defense (and) range isn’t an issue because he got to some balls we thought he had no chance at. His exceptional balance puts him in position to make strong throws as well. His arm strength is a plus (and his) feet really work well on defense.”
LeMahieu got hooked up with the South Florida Bandits travel ball group despite making his home in Michigan, and played in five PG WWBA and PG BCS tournament with them in 2006; he played at the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., with the Bandits that year.
Two of the biggest events of his PG career were the 2006 PG National Showcase in Arkansas and finally the 2006 PG All-American Classic, played that year at Tony Gwynn Field at San Diego State University.
“It was cool to be on that stage with all those other players,” LeMahieu said of the All-American Classic experience. “In Michigan, you don’t really get the chance to do something like that very often, and now looking back on it and seeing the players that have made it (to the major leagues), it makes it even more special.”
LeMahieu was on an East Team roster that included San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner (the MVP at last year’s World Series), New York Mets right-hander Matt Harvey and St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jason Heyward. The West roster that year included Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman.
As is always the case, those Classic rosters represented an overabundance of oversized talent, even if that fact is lost on the young 17-year-olds that are actually playing in the game. The teenagers just don’t realize at the time that they are surrounded by potential greatness.
“You just feel like you’re with a bunch of other high school kids that are pretty good at baseball,” LeMahieu said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Everyone was like, ‘These are the best prospects, these are the future big-leaguers,’ but for me it was like, ‘OK, we’re in high school right now; that’s a ways away.’ But to look back on it now, it was pretty cool.”
The Detroit Tigers selected LeMahieu right out of Brother Rice HS in the 41st round of the 2007 MLB amateur draft but he didn’t sign, heading instead to Baton Rouge and LSU. The Tigers went to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., in both 2008 and 2009, and won the National Championship in 2009 when LeMahieu was named to the CWS All-Tournament Team.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better college experience,” he said. “I went to Omaha two years, I played in the old Alex Box (stadium) and in the new (Alex Box/Skip Bertman Field) stadium; I made unbelievable friends. I ended up improving (the round) where I was drafted and I became a better player. I couldn’t say more good things about LSU and my college experience.”
LeMahieu does seem to be in a good place, especially on this day. The sun shined brightly down on beautiful Salt River Fields at about lunch time on Friday – on the heels of a rainy Thursday – and LeMahieu is set to begin his fifth big-league season. His path has taken him from Bloomfield Hills to Fayetteville, San Diego to Jupiter, and finally from Baton Rouge to Denver.
Every day, it seems, offers something new. And who knows? Maybe the Rockies will start winning some games this season.
“I thought the highest point in my career was going to be winning the (CWS) national championship, but every year I play now there’s a new goal, there’s a new fire,” LeMahieu said. “There’s always something else to get me motivated and that I hope to achieve.
“It would be nice if this team could win some games and make some noise this year and for me bring that those college memories of winning championships.”