NEW YORK – It was Friday afternoon in Baltimore when third baseman Ryan McMahon found out that the Rockies had traded him to the Yankees.
At first, he felt weird about the situation, because he had been with the Rockies' organization for close to 13 years. Then he took a rideshare from Charm City to Yankee Stadium. McMahon loved the ride to the Bronx because he was uninterrupted for 3 1/2 hours.
McMahon arrived at the house that George Steinbrenner built around 8:15 p.m. ET, but he was told to leave and get ready for Saturday’s game against the Phillies. He was thrilled when he found out that uniform No. 19 was available. McMahon picked that number in tribute to his father, Jim, and his favorite Rockies teammate, Charlie Blackmon.
In his first game in pinstripes, McMahon hit eighth in the Yankees' 9-4 loss to the Phillies. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and made a dazzling defensive play in the eighth, diving to stop Otto Kemp's hard grounder and throwing him out at first.
“This is every kid’s dream when you are 9 or 10 years old hitting in the backyard in Game 7 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. It’s going to be pretty cool,” McMahon said.
In his past seven games, McMahon has shown signs of life in the batter’s box, going 7-for-24 (.292) with three home runs and seven RBIs. Overall, McMahon has a slash line of .217/.314/.403 with 16 home runs and 35 RBIs.
“I’m working through some stuff, trying to make sure I’m putting the ball in play. For me, it's to get a good pitch to hit and make sure I hit it,” McMahon said.
McMahon is an above-average defender who will make all the routine plays and some spectacular ones. He learned to play great defense by watching former teammates such as Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu when all three were with the Rockies.
“I remember my first camp. We took ground balls, and then I turned around. I was walking off the field and Nolan and DJ were still taking ground balls,” McMahon remembered. “I think I learned to work from those guys, the best to do it.”
McMahon will not be the focal point with the Yankees like he was in Colorado. The Yankees already have those types of players in Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger.
“I’m more excited to be part of this lineup. From the other side, you looked over the Yankees' lineup, it’s intimidating. There are a lot of really good players, guys who can do a lot of good things. I’m just happy to be part of that,” McMahon said.