Follow-up MRI shows fracture in foot of Yankees' LeMahieu

HOUSTON -- New York Yankees third baseman DJ LeMahieu has a nondisplaced fracture in his right foot, manager Aaron Boone said Saturday.

LeMahieu suffered the injury when he fouled a pitch off the top of his foot March 16. Initial testing didn't reveal any structural damage, but another MRI taken Friday, after the swelling subsided, revealed the fracture.

Boone said LeMahieu's foot will be reimaged in two weeks. He declined to share the projected timetable for LeMahieu's return but said the veteran infielder and projected leadoff hitter still could join the Yankees sometime in April.

He was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to March 25, before the club's season opener against the Houston Astros on Thursday.

"It's not something he's going to play through," Boone said. "He's going to be 100%. And I think the sense is ... over time, he'll be fine. It's just we're not playing through it."

LeMahieu has been participating in baseball activities -- including hitting in a batting cage and jogging Friday -- according to Boone. The manager added LeMahieu, the 2020 AL batting champion, reported significant progress over the last two days.

"He'll do everything that he can tolerate," Boone said.

LeMahieu, 35, spent nearly three weeks on the injured list with inflammation on a toe on the same foot in 2022. Boone said that history will push the Yankees to take a more conservative approach with his return. Having Oswaldo Cabrera continue to produce in LeMahieu's place certainly would help.

Cabrera has started at third base in the Yankees' first three games and starred in all three wins over the Astros. He went 2 for 4 with a home run on Opening Day, followed that with a four-hit effort Friday and then hit a tying two-run homer in a 5-3 win Saturday night.

Boone had said he planned to have Jon Berti, acquired in a trade Wednesday, start at third base Saturday, but Cabrera was back in the lineup after his two performances.

"A little bit, yeah," Boone said when asked if taking Cabrera out of the lineup has been impossible. "It's been exciting. Right in the middle of everything, obviously, so yeah. He's looked pretty good."