Gio Urshela expected to play in AAA this season for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Railriders. Instead, he’s the starting third baseman for the New York Yankees and batting .338. Not just that, but he is also a gold glove candidate for the hot corner.
August has been scary good for Urshela. After struggling in the middle part of the season, he’s batting .460 with seven home runs and 17 RBIs in August. He’s bat .500 the past week, and he seems even more dominant each game.
He now has 18 home runs and 66 runs batted in on the season.
If Urshela had enough at-bats, he would be tied for the American League batting race with fellow Yankee infielder DJ LeMahieu, who has also turned a lot of heads with his performance.
Gio didn’t have a hit on Saturday, but had an eight game hitting streak prior. Six of the eight games were multi-hit games, and four of them were three-hit games.
Urshela has a 3.3 WAR on the season, the only season that he’s had a positive WAR in.
The way that Urshela is playing may put Miguel Andujar out of luck for next season. He may have to learn a new position, or his Yankee days could be numbered.
Andujar would be great trade bait, and the team could get a lot in return. The team could get a starter, or bolster their bullpen even more.
Andujar has a defensive liability, and Urshela fills that and has had a better batting performance then Andujar did last year. Urshela is just more valuable, and Andujar would likely benefit more on a different team.