Yankees’ Aaron Boone gives us answers on Miguel Andujar for 2020

In early 2019, Yankees’ Miguel Andujar suffered a season-ending shoulder injury sliding back into third base. After that, Gio Urshela stepped up and took over as the starting third baseman. Since then, Andujar has been a question mark for the Yankees. In Spring Training, Boone talked about transferring Andujar to the outfield and using him as a DH but hasn’t talked about their plans for Andujar in the 2020 season. 

In a press conference yesterday, Aaron Boone talked about where they’ve been placing Andujar during Summer Camp. He said, “he’s been getting work in the outfield” but he is still “balancing between the two” positions (third base and outfield). Boone said when they were doing fielding work a couple of days ago, Andujar was “doing all of his stuff with the outfielders.” He finished by saying the Yankees “continue to be excited in his ability to play the corners of the outfield but also at third.” 

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Later that night, Andujar started in left field in the intrasquad game and hit an opposite-field home run off of starting pitcher Gerrit Cole. 

If it works out, Andujar will provide more talent and depth into an already stacked outfield. When Stanton shifts back to left field, it seems very likely that Andujar will take over the DH spot for the Yankees. 

Many forget how talented Andujar is at the plate. His 2018 stats were: 573 AB, 170 H, .297 AVG, .328 OBP, .527 SLG, .855 OPS, 47 2B, 2 3B, 27 HR, 92 RBI, 25 BB. Andujar ended up finishing second in “Rookie of the Year” voting in 2018 behind the slugging right-handed pitcher, Shohei Ohtani. 

Andujar is a very versatile and talented player.  His ability to get on base and hit the opposite way will further justify placing him in the DH role this year. Look to see Andujar’s name in a lot of lineup cards this season.