Yankees Infielder Makes Brutal Admission
New York Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon finally did something everyone was worried he wasn't capable of: he hit a home run in Pinstripes.
McMahon's first homer since joining the Yankees ahead of the 2025 MLB trade deadline came in an 11-2 victory against the Washington Nationals. New York crushed the Nationals in a three game series, winning each contest of the three game series. After the game, McMahon addressed the elephant in the room, expressing his relief that he'd finally achieved the milestone.
"Oh, man, finally," McMahon said of his first-ever Yankees home run, (h/t New York Daily News' Gary Phillips). "I've sucked. I don't think it's a secret, so I'm just trying to get going."
While it's never a good thing to have a player in the lineup who is struggling, McMahon was able to acknowledge his issues and seemingly is trying to improve. The Yankees acquired McMahon in a trade with his former team, the Colorado Rockies, in exchange for two pitching prospects, LHP Griffin Herring and RHP Josh Grosz. McMahon is slashing .212/ .320/ .329 as a Yankee in 28 games, which isn't fantastic. However, those numbers are quite similar to the 100 games he played as a Rockie, where he slashed .217/ .314/ .403.
While fans and analysts alike were worried about McMahon's bat before the trade, which wasn't particularly strong even with the benefit of playing with Denver as a home base, it's worth noting what he brings to the table defensively. The Yankees were in desperate need of a more solid third baseman, and that's exactly what they got. Earlier this season, the Pinstripes had Jazz Chisholm Jr. at third. While he was doing well, he's much better at second, where he's played most of his career. With Chisholm on second, veteran Paul Goldschmidt at first and McMahon on third, New York's infield has been much more consistent.
Hopefully, now that McMahon has hit his first home run as a Bronx Bomber, his offensive stats will just continue to improve. Even if they don't, New York has tons of hitting power to more than make up for it, and benefit heavily from McMahon's fielding capabilities.
