Yankees universe has a foot fetish for Miguel Andujar

The Yankees Miguel Andujar has used his strong arms to vie for a spot as a top prospect. But now all that matters are his feet.

The Yankees rebuilt this team on powerful arms. They have filled the system with flame-throwing pitchers and home run hitters, such as Aaron Judge, Jorge Guzman, Clint Frazier and Luis Severino. When the Yankees conceived of this team, they thought only of powerful hitters and hard throwers.

Miguel Andujar fits that profile exactly.

Andujar’s quick bat and strong throwing arm have carried him on quite a journey in the last twelve months. Before the 2016 season, Miguel was ranked as only the Yankees 18th best player, behind such players such as Mason Williams (12), Kyle Holder (9), and the recently removed Rob Refsnyder (4).

He deserved that designation as he was coming off back-to-back years of committing 26 errors and had a reputation as a slow starter. Andujar changed at least part of the narrative in 2016. He got off to a great start and never stopped hitting.

His work at Tampa–.283/.343/.474, ten home runs, 18 walks, and 30 strikeouts—earned Andujar a promotion to Double-A.

Two Steps Up, One Back

The then 21-year old regressed a bit against tougher competition, which is natural. He slashed just .266/.323/.358 over his final 282 at-bats. And while he only hit two more home runs, he still finished with twelve for the year. He also decreased his errors slightly, committing 22 for all of the 2016 season.

One part of Andujar’s story that did not change was his throwing arm. Miguel has a,

“cannon of an arm”, and is, “easily the best and most advanced hot-corner prospect in New York’s deep system.”

The combination was good enough for the Yankees. They sent him to the Arizona Fall League where he was named a Rising Star.

That would be a great year for any prospect. But if 2016 gave us a promise of things to come, 2017 has fulfilled it. And Miguel Andujar has gone from promising prospect to Yankee’s future lynchpin.

Oh, the Comments Section; What Fun

I have read the comments both here and on the Facebook page. It proved, as always, that Yankees fans are the best informed. Okay, not always the nicest but the most knowledgeable. And what most of them are talking about is not Andujar’s arm, but his feet. Specifically, his footwork around the third base bag.

Yankees fans can see the problem and the implications thereof. There are two possibilities, with far reaching effects on the 2017 Yankees and beyond.

One outcome is that Andujar will never have a defense to match his offense. If so, he will not help the Yankees this year and their under whelming third base production. His trade value will suffer, and he will be a throw in piece, instead of being considered a blue chipper.

But most importantly either Didi Gregorius, Starlin Castro, or Gleyber Torres will have to move to third at some point. That is less than optimal. The Yankees tried all three at the hot corner at one time or another this year. The fact that none of them ever received any significant time at the base tells you what evaluators such as Cashman and Girardi think.

In that scenario, the Yankees would be better off trading him now, while his bat is so hot. The longer he plays, the more his defensive shortcomings will be noticed. But there is another possibility. And it’s the one that has the fans, and front office so tantalized.

First to Third

In this alternate Yankees universe, Andujar shows some of the same improvement with his footwork. If he does that, cuts down his errors to the point where his offense outweighs his defense, then he becomes what he looks like: a top hitting prospect with both power and great bat speed.

His one day with the Yankees did nothing to dim that vision, as he went three-for-four and looked ready for his next promotion.

Now if that’s true, Andujar could be back in September. And third base will start contributing a lot more offense. But if Andujar can show himself as at least an adequate defender, either this year or in spring training, he will cause a chain reaction that will ripple throughout the baseball cosmos.

In that scenario, the Yankees want to keep Andujar, hopefully forever, and see how Torres does next year. As soon as he is ready to take over at second or short, the Yankees will be able to trade either Didi or Starlin; they would never trade the younger players with more years under control.

Trades are always best when done from a position of strength; the Yankees would have four highly talented players for three positions. And they would be able to trade a proven big time player, choosing between Didi and Starlin. Either one of them would bring back significantly more than an error-prone third baseman.

But it’s all up to Andujar’s feet.

Armed and Ready

Fortunately, there is reason for optimism. In his 493 innings at Trenton, Miguel committed ten errors, which showed improvement already.

And just like his hitting, his defense has improved at a higher level. He has just two errors in 222 innings with the RailRiders. That seems very promising. Especially when compared to current MLB third basemen.

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All-world Manny Machado has ten errors so far, and committed 19 two years ago, while Jake Lamb of the 59-43 Diamondbacks has 9; twelve doesn’t seem so bad. Especially not with the bat Andujar swings. I mentioned he’s batting .324 at Scranton, right?

When the Yankees envisioned this rebuild, they imagined they would grow the best player for each position and trade the excess position players for proven pitching. Andujar’s development is key to making that vision a reality.

His arm is best suited to the position and keeps the winner of the Didi/Starlin sweepstakes at his natural position. His success, if he has it, would allow the Yankees to trade for a quality starter while getting younger and better, again. And the Yankees could keep more of their best prospects.

Next: Speaking of Trades, the Yankees need to Learn the Mateo Rule

A lot of if’s. I can tell you from experience; the whole thing has Yankees universe up in arms. I think most of them want Cashman to wait and see if Andujar can be the next great young Yankees player. And I have said it so much I am starting to get flyers from NAMBLA: I love Miguel Andujar.

So I hope he can do it. And, if he can climb from Double-A to the majors in twelve months, it will be quite a feat.

Or is that, feet?