There will officially be a baseball regular season in 2020, and that raises a lot of questions for the New York Yankees as they prepare for spring training 2.0. Who will be featured in their starting pitching rotation? Who will earn a spot in the expanded active roster? Can the outfield stay healthy for the entire 60 games?
Inevitably, we will find all of the answers as time goes on, but baseball is about adaptation and revision throughout the course of a campaign. A normal season is 162 games long, and fatigue plays a significant factor in the degradation of players and supplement of injuries.
However, in a 60 game season, managers will have to adapt in different ways and maximize youth talent. A condensed schedule will increase fatigue in spurts, but adding four extra players to the back end of the roster will help the Yankees mitigate injury concern and hopefully play quality baseball.
The New York Yankees do have one weapon available:
One player that could have a fantastic 2020 season is Miguel Andujar, who is ready to take his offensive qualities and put them to the test once more. In his rookie campaign, Andujar posted a .297 batting average with 27 homers and 92 RBIs. He lead the MLB with 47 doubles over 573 at-bats.
If Andujar can replicate those numbers once more in 2020, the Yankees will be in fantastic shape to dominate offensively. However, my question is, will he earn any defensive reps in the outfield?
Prior to the MLB shutting down operations, Andujar featured in left field for several games during spring ball. He played well, despite a small sample size and relatively easy fly balls. He looked comfortable in left field and tracked down balls in the sun efficiently.
“The last time I played the outfield, I was probably 11 or 12,” Andujar said during Spring Training, via North Jersey. “I’ve been with the Yankees (organization) for a long time, and I’ve only played third base.”
“Nice going,’’ Boone said to Andujar after the first inning of an 8-2 victory over the Nationals. Andujar was encouraged by his first game in left field, stating: “I really liked it.’’
I don’t anticipate Andujar earning any starting reps at third base anytime soon since Gio Urshela dominated the position in 2019, and DJ LeMahieu is capable of moving around the infield and producing at a high-level. Nonetheless, he has the experience to slot in if need be, but the Yankees prefer to keep him off the hot corner if possible.
With Giancarlo Stanton returning to full health, I anticipate he will start the season in left field. If the Yankees wish to substitute him out and place him in DH, I believe Clint Frazier will be the next man up to fill in defensively. Andujar simply doesn’t have the experience yet to be trusted, especially in a shortened season where every game counts exponentially more. Nonetheless, he is the last resort and could serve a purpose defensively at some point.