DJ LeMahieu was certainly the team MVP last year. He put up an fWAR of 5.4, which is considered to be “superstar” level. In contrast, Manny Machado had a 3.1 fWAR, which lands in FanGraphs’ “good player” category. These fWARs translate to a 0.45 WAR/$1 million for LeMahieu versus a 0.10 WAR/$1 million for Machado.
One reason LeMahieu was so good last year was because of his impeccable plate coverage. He could get a hit no matter where the pitch was located.
The average line drive percentage across the majors in 2019 was 25.5 percent. LeMahieu’s overall rate was 29.