Gio Urshela put up impressive offensive numbers for the New York Yankees last season, while his defensive numbers suffered. According to FanGraphs, Gio ranked 16 out of 17 qualifying third basemen in overall defense last season, with Matt Chapman and Nolan Arrenado taking the top 2 spots. Gio has so much pressure on him, a wide door is open for Miguel Andujar to come back.
What About Andujar’s Defense?
Obviously, as a man who’s played professional baseball since 2015, Gio Urshela’s defensive stats are skewed more in his favor than Andujar’s. And according to the same statistical source, Andujar’s defense in 2018 ranked in dead last, I’m not blind. But if Andujar can eliminate his double-clutch problem, even make 10% more throws eliminating that issue, Andujar’s defense will be better than Urshela.
What About Urshela’s Offense?
Gio Urshela HAS to prove, unquestionably, he HAS to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke offensively. Remember Brandon Drury? In Drury’s injury-shortened 2018, he was a drastic defensive improvement over Miguel Andujar. But guess what? Drury was hitting better than Drury. Urshela, in his career, never hit above .235 before last season. If he doesn’t hit between .270 and .290, and Urshela picks up right where he left off in 2018, Urshela will get benched for Andujar.
What About Andujar’s Injury?
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, a throwing program can begin at around 4 months post-surgery. This means that Andujar would be able to restart improving his defense in September. Urshela, would not be able to have started working on improving his poor defense from 2019 until after the team got bounced by the Astros in October. But, obviously, it would be until about November until he got to do anything.
Plus, we have no idea quick Andujar recovered from the injury. Remember when Didi came back earlier than expected from Tommy John? Maybe Andujar got cleared for baseball-related activities in August, maybe even July.
What About Urshela’s Recovery Time?
Gio Urshela never played more than 90 games in a season before last year. Gio Urshela was never an everyday player until last season. Gio Urshela never played that deep into October before. If Gio Urshela is STILL recovering from last seasons toll on his body by St. Paddy’s Day… Miggy got his job back.
I’m calling it. Miguel Andujar win’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2020.