TAMPA, Fla. — Ryan McMahon spent his offseason attending weddings, visiting his wife Natalie’s hometown of Linden, California, where Aaron Judge also grew up, and searching for answers about his swing.
The Yankees third baseman was a Gold Glove finalist for the fifth straight year in 2025. Nobody questions his glove. But his bat was a different story. McMahon hit just .214 with 20 home runs in 154 games. His 33.5 percent strikeout rate was the worst in the majors. After being traded from the Rockies to the Yankees on July 25, he batted .208 in 54 games in pinstripes.
The Yankees gave up two ranked prospects, left-hander Griffin Herring and right-hander Josh Grosz, to acquire McMahon. They also took on the final two years of his $70 million contract at $16 million per season. They did not make that deal just for elite defense.
So this winter, the Yankees went to work. And the fix started with a 90-minute Zoom call in early November.
How the Yankees used Bryce Harper as a teaching tool
McMahon was invited onto a video call with Yankees hitting coach James Rowson and assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes and Jake Hirst. During the session, McMahon was shown video of his own swing alongside footage of two other left-handed power hitters: Yankees first baseman Ben Rice and Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper.
The purpose was not to turn McMahon into Harper. It was to show him where his mechanics were breaking down compared to hitters who shared a similar swing profile.
“It wasn’t necessarily a direct reflection of a comparison of any player,” Rowson said. “But when you go back and you look through things, you’re trying to find certain things that a player may do that you can show somebody.”
McMahon said the video was an eye-opener for his Yankees tenure going forward. He could see exactly where things had gone wrong.
“They would show me my swing, then show me theirs,” McMahon said. “I wouldn’t say our swings are identical, but the basic swing mechanics are … step, hips, hands, that order of operations, getting the barrel there. Basically, how you want to get the barrel there were all similar and this was an example of how Rice and Harper were doing it a little bit better than I was.”
He added: “I would look at old videos of myself and be like, ‘Oh, wow!’ After seeing the things they pointed to, it was pretty clear as day. My hips weren’t getting there, so my hands were just dropping.”
The Yankees narrow McMahon’s stance
The biggest visible change is McMahon’s batting stance. Last season, according to Statcast, he averaged 42.7 inches between his feet in the batter’s box, the fourth widest gap in the majors. The new stance is noticeably narrower. McMahon described it as feeling “sturdier.” He cleaned up his bat path and hip movement to put more balls in play.
“We’re trying to get him in a consistent position to maximize what we think he can do offensively,” Yankees assistant hitting coach Dykes said.
McMahon is a rare case for the Yankees coaching staff. He does not chase bad pitches. He ranked 24th in walk rate last season, slotted between Harper and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. His average exit velocity of 93.3 mph was 14th best in the game. He simply whiffed too much when he swung.
Spring numbers do not tell the full story for the Yankees
The early Grapefruit League results have not been pretty. Ryan McMahon is hitting .120 with six strikeouts in 27 plate appearances through nine games. But the Yankees coaching staff is not concerned.
“I feel like his at-bat quality every day has been pretty good, and for the most part, he’s squaring balls up,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Yankees hitting coach Rowson echoed that confidence. “I can literally see some of the things that Mac is putting into play this spring,” Rowson said. “It’s not to create a different hitter. It’s to create the right feel. There are certain aspects of the swing that I feel like he’s in a better position to repeat a good swing consistently now.”
McMahon said the changes feel right. “I know the numbers are what they are in spring training, but I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball good, making good swing decisions,” he said.
Can McMahon hit outside of Coors Field for the Yankees?
The biggest question hanging over McMahon is whether he can produce away from the thin Colorado air for the Yankees. He is a career .263 hitter with 87 home runs in 515 games at Coors Field. Everywhere else, those numbers drop to .216 with 57 homers in 549 games. After arriving in the Bronx last summer, he hit .198 with just two homers in 29 Yankees home games.
Yankees manager Boone is not worried. He pointed to DJ LeMahieu, another former Rockies infielder who thrived after joining the Yankees.
“We saw that with DJ, for example,” Boone said. “He hit great at Coors Field. He had the regular Coors Field road splits, but then came to us and was a stud anyway. Once you get out of that environment, usually you are who you are.”
McMahon said he is eager to prove the Yankees made the right call.
“Personally, I’d like to make the Yankees look like really smart people for making that trade,” McMahon said. “I’m ready for some games with some juice.”
The Yankees open 2026 on March 25 in San Francisco. By then, McMahon plans to have his rebuilt swing fully locked in.
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