New York Yankees 2020 Projections: Miguel Andujar

Miguel Andujar will be a big key to the Yankees season

Andujar could be the x-factor to New York’s success in 2020 and beyond due to his impending versatility that he’s been working on.

During his rookie season in 2018, Miguel Andujar had one of the best years in Yankees history. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Shohei Ohtani. His stellar rookie season gave the Yankees hope that they had another young piece for future success. Andujar’s offense was the strongest part of his game. He had his troubles fielding, but the weakest part of his defense was his throwing ability. Andujar’s accuracy was something to be desired, but he still had the potential to be a great player. All he had to do was work on his defense, and he would be fine as his offense was consistently good.

In 2018 Andujar batted .297, 170 hits, 27 home runs, and 92 RBI. Those numbers were deserving of Rookie of the Year honors, but instead, he finished in second place.

Andujar had such a successful rookie campaign in 2018 that when the calendar turned to 2019, he was poised to capitalize on his past success to have an even better second year. However, he was bitten by the injury bug. As a matter of fact, Andujar suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

As a result of this injury, his job at third base was taken over by Gio Urshela, so his future in pinstripes was certainly up in the air. However, Andujar’s bat is something that simply cannot be ignored, so the Yankees opted to keep him a part of the roster.

In addition to being the backup third baseman and, of course, being put in the lineup at DH, manager Aaron Boone decided to try Andujar at different positions. He worked out during Spring Training in the outfield, making him a reliable/versatile player. He played in 11 games, recorded seven hits in 31 at-bats, one home run, 4 RBI, and a batting average of .226. Not bad numbers for someone coming off of season-ending shoulder surgery a year prior.

Andujar is a talented player offensively that when rewarded with playing time, he can shine whenever called upon because of his natural abilities. However, there is no telling when he will play because Urshela has the third base job locked down. Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner have two of the three outfield spots locked down, so that leaves Andujar, Clint Frazier, Mike Tauchman, and Giancarlo Stanton as the likely candidates to play left field and DH. He also took some reps at first base, but he will have to compete with Luke Voit, Mike Ford, and DJ LeMahieu, who has experience there.

Projecting his stat line for 2020 when the season eventually happens, is very tough to do because there is no telling when/if he’ll play. Andujar’s playing time also depends on who is healthy and who is playing well. All I know is that when Andujar takes the field, he will make the most of the opportunity.

However, fully expect Andujar to hit his fair share of home runs and RBI, but the average may come down because he still needs more reps to get back into game shape after not playing baseball for a long time.

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If he plays well enough, but the Yankees don’t have room for him on their roster, maybe they could package a deal with him to acquire another starting pitcher to possibly replace James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka or another bat in the lineup. Time will tell.