Yankees: Who should play third base in 2020?

After moving past the halfway point of the 2019 MLB season, we can begin to talk about who will play third base for the Yankees in 2020 once Miguel Andujar returns. Fortunately, the club has three solid ball players from which to choose.

Entering the 2019 season, the Yankees appeared set on having Miguel Andujar be their regular third baseman. However, Andujar season came to a quick end when after he underwent surgery for a torn labrum in May.

Doctors determined in early April that he had a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder. He first decided to try to rehabilitate his injury, and he returned to play in early May. He lasted only 9 games and then went back on the IL.

After assessing his options and consulting medical experts, he decided to have the surgery to correct the injury. Due to the seriousness of his surgery and the estimated recovery time, the Yanks do not expect him to return until next season.

Andujar had a terrific rookie season in 2018. He had a slash line of .297/.328/.527 and an OPS+ of 129. In 573 at bats, he hit an impressive 47 doubles and 27 home runs, and he had 92 RBIs.

He came in second in the voting of the Baseball Writers Association of America for American League Rookie of the Year to Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels despite his outstanding numbers and consistently high level of performance throughout the entire season (highway robbery in my view).

Fortunately, his contributions during the 2019 season were recognized by his peers, the MLB Players’ Association. He received the 2018 American League Outstanding Rookie Award by those who witnessed his contributions on a daily basis in person on the field.

Initially, there were discussions of DJ LeMahieu, who had played for the Colorado Rockies in 2018 and was acquired as a free agent during the offseason, filling in at third base. He had played third for the Rockies on rare occasions during his seven-year stint with them.

However, Didi Gregorius was rehabbing from right elbow UCL surgery and would not be ready to play shortstop until late May or June at the earliest. Gleybor Torres was the best option to play shortstop, and the versatile DJ LeMahieu was the best option to play second base since he had primarily played that position while with the Rockies.

Enter Giovanny Urshela, who was purchased by the Yanks from the Toronto Blue Jays on August 4, 2018, a cash transaction that went largely unnoticed by many at the time, including me. He had played third base for the Cleveland Indians (who first signed him as an international free agent) and then recently for the Blue Jays but never was really an everyday player.

During spring training I saw LeMahieu and Urshela play third base in separate games in Tampa (against the Braves and Cardinals, respectively), and they both made incredible plays in the field. I was pleased to see that either one would be a solid replacement for Andujar in late innings of games for the Bombers, or on days when he needed to be rested.

Following the bad injury news concerning Andujar at the beginning of the season, Urshela was offered a number of opportunities to play third base. Almost immediately Yankees fans were treated to his graceful play and amazing defense at third base.

However, no one expected his spectacular level of offensive play, and Yankees fans were in awe how well he fielded and hit.  Most would agree that he played a significant role in the successful play by the Yanks during the first half of the season. Once again, thank you, Brian Cashman!

In addition to making spectacular plays on the field, he was hitting in the mid to high .300s out the gate. He was consistently hitting for power and average and was especially hitting in clutch situations with runners in scoring position (and he is now just a few players behind LeMahieu, who currently has the highest batting average when batting with runners in scoring position in the American League at the moment).

Urshela has cooled off a bit from his quick offensive start, and we will need to see how well he hits during the second half. His slash line is .301/.350/.470 and an OPS+ of 116. In 232 at bats he has hit 16 doubles and 8 homeruns, and he has 42 RBIs. These are all solid offensive numbers at this point in the season.

He is clearly a much better fielder than Andujar, and he has saved the Yanks a number of runs with his slick fielding in key situations. However, Andujar bats with more power than him.

Given all this, what should the Yanks do next year after Andujar returns? Should Urshela start at third base or should Andujar? Or, should LeMahieu become the regular third baseman? After all, LeMahieu can hit and field, and Gregorius, Torres, and Luke Voit are already well entrenched in their present positions in the infield.

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Should the Yanks trade Andujar for a top of the rotation starting pitcher regardless of whether Urshela (assuming he continues to hit) or LeMahieu become the starting third baseman? Certainly, this is a nice problem to have.

Let’s keep in mind that the Yanks have a relatively young Andujar under control until 2023 when he turns 28 years old. LeMahieu will be 32 at the end of his two-year contract with the club. Urshela will be 28 in October with three years of arbitration following the 2019 season.

Given the season LeMahieu is currently having, and if he performs as well during the following season, it will be very expensive for the Yanks to retain him. He was signed for $24 million over two years, a true bargain given his phenomenal performance thus far. I would argue that he was the best acquisition any club made during the off season.

At this point, with the near and long-term future uncertain, the Yanks must first determine whether, like Voit, Urshela is a true diamond in the rough. By the end of this season, we should know whether he will likely not only be a fantastic fielder, but also someone who will probably hit around .300 consistently throughout the remainder of his career.

Let’s say that Urshela plays equally well offensively in the second half of the season as he did in the first half. At that point, it might make sense to designate Andujar as the regular DH, have Urshela become the regular third baseman, and continue to have LeMahieu fill in at first, second, and third base (as well as DH) on a rotating basis. Thus far, such jumping around has not seemed to bother him.

Of course, it is hard to predict the future. As we have already disappointingly seen this season, injuries will likely occur to one or more of the elite corps of Yankees infielders over time, and thus there probably will be enough playing to go around for everyone.