Checking in on how Yankees fans can support DJ LeMahieu's next chapter

I watched DJ LeMahieu from a distance for most of his career. I played with him at LSU and understood what kind of competitor he was before the Gold Gloves and batting titles confirmed it for everyone else. Still, his major league routine was something I could only imagine. What I can tell you is what his baseball routine looks like now, coaching college players in Royal Oak, Michigan — and it looks exactly like what you'd expect from somebody who won two batting titles and played 15 years at the highest level.

LeMahieu is at the training complex every single day. He is the first one there, flipping balls in the cages, carrying waters from the locker room out to the field, working through plays in real time, taking ground balls and talking through approaches and mindset with guys who are playing some of the hardest baseball of their lives in the dog days of a Michigan summer. On road trips close enough to drive, he's behind the wheel himself driving to games so he can be home with his family at night. He hasn't taken a day off, and the players around him notice — the team has some real, major league prospects who want to learn from one of the best to ever do it, including Northwoods League All-Stars Oliver Service, Kellen English, and Luke Kosko.

What's Been Built Around Yankees' DJ LeMahieu in New Role

The Royal Oak Leprechauns — DJ's nonprofit summer collegiate team competing in the Northwoods League at Memorial Park near Woodward and 13 Mile — are building something impressive around that energy, and are more than halfway through their 72-game season. While the on-field results have been solid, what is happening for the players and in the community is even bigger.

General Manager Danny Weiss runs the operation with a staff that approaches every day like a professional organization, supported by Head of Sales Kurt Bongesser, Baseball Operations specialist Ava Webb, who oversees the intern program, and DJ's family, who are at the park consistently handling the back end of things. The 30+ interns help run all the operations, concessions, merchandise and help create a positive fan experience.

Behind the scenes, a group of host families open their homes to these college players all summer long — feeding them, doing their laundry, treating them like their own — which is one of the quietest and most important parts of what makes the summer ball experience meaningful for a player who is far from home. The volunteers who show up night after night to make the experience work for the fans round out a group of people who clearly believe in what DJ is building here.

Cards and Community

To piggyback off that, two interns — Cameron Schafer and Casey Burke — took the initiative this summer to build a 22-card set through Pennant Cards featuring this year's Leprechauns roster and two of the coaches (including DJ), with an update set coming that will include more coaches and fan-favorite players. They handled the photos, the template, the logistics — and DJ backed the whole project, which is exactly the kind of thing he does quietly and without fanfare.

The result was Card Night at Memorial Park, and coming up the team is offering packs at ten dollars during Kids Day so that kids can rip packs and get them signed by the college players right there on the field. As somebody who has had their own baseball card over the years, I can tell you firsthand what that experience means to a player — and for some of these guys, this might be the only card that ever has their name and face on it, with people walking up and asking for an autograph. DJ gave them that experience, and it's the kind of thing you don't forget.

Get to Know the Team

One more thing worth highlighting: DJ opened the Stevens Complex — his baseball and softball training facility in Metro Detroit, where the Leprechauns train — to content creator and media personality Abby Alonzo, who built a full studio there and hosts the team's podcast on YouTube. The show takes fans inside the organization in a way that summer ball programs almost never do — getting to know the players, the host families who open their homes all summer, and the people behind the scenes who make everything run. If you want to follow along with what's happening in Royal Oak from anywhere in the country, that's the place to start.

How to Support

If you're a Yankees fan who watched DJ LeMahieu win batting titles and play Gold Glove defense in the Bronx for years, here's how you give back to what he's building. Get to Memorial Park in Royal Oak this summer, grab merchandise (including the card set) at the team store, or show up for Kids Day to be part of something that matters to these college players and to the Royal Oak community.

All Northwoods League games stream on FloSports if you can't make it out to Michigan. DJ LeMahieu is in the mud every day in Metro Detroit, and what he's building here is worth getting behind.

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