Miguel Andújar showed up in unexpected place while Triple-A Yankees played in Omaha

Miguel Andújar’s been a bizarrely tough man to track since the trade deadline came and went, leaving him embedded in the Yankees’ system against his will.

Once a genuine Rookie of the Year candidate in 2018, a small tear of Andújar’s shoulder suffered innocently diving back into the third-base bag threw his sophomore campaign out of whack, and when he finally returned, the job was Gio Urshela’s and the bat didn’t look so great.

Andújar would like a genuine chance in another organization at this point, something he’d made perfectly clear between roller-coaster promotions and demotions in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

For whatever reason, the Yankees don’t want to accept the diminished return and make the trade, an especially odd decision considering he brings them no real benefit whenever he’s promoted to patch a hole.

Andújar was brought back to the bigs after his Aug. 7 Triple-A game, following Matt Carpenter’s foot injury. He then played two games in Seattle, one in Boston, and two at home against Tampa before being demoted again, recording exactly one single in four of those five games.

Where’s Miggy been since then? Earnestly wish we could tell you.

He didn’t play between Aug. 16 and 20, joining the RailRiders in St. Paul, MN for a single game before traveling to Omaha and cracking the lineup on Aug. 23 and 24, socking a homer in that first contest.

Andújar did not play on Thursday or Friday, though, and missed both games of Sunday’s makeup doubleheader as well. Is he nursing an injury? If so, it’s unlisted. Regardless, he was in the Bronx on Sunday night at the Bad Bunny concert instead of with the Triple-A active roster.

Yankees Quad-A bat Miguel Andújar isn’t with Scranton

Is Andújar readying for a promotion when the Yanks return from the west coast and rosters expand on Sept. 1? Sure seems like it. The Bombers are in Anaheim for their final three games of August before flying to Tampa for a three-game Rays series beginning Sept. 2. Therefore, there’s no use in flying him to California if they intend on promoting him after that gap.

But wouldn’t they want him to continue getting Triple-A reps in the meantime? Did Andújar blow his cover? Why leave Omaha a week early? And would the Yankees really turn to him again so soon instead of getting creative with an Oswald Peraza promotion? Don’t answer that.

Either way, Andújar’s in some sort of limbo right now, though fans should get a clear answer in just a few days — and an answer they might not love.

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