Miguel Andujar
Flying under the radar throughout the majority of his minor league career, Miguel Andujar is making a serious run at being considered the Yankees’ future third baseman.
In 130 games between Tampa and Double-A Trenton slashing .273/.332/.410 with an OPS of .742 and 12 home runs. No, not incredible, but he has been a standout performer down in the AFL.
Through 11 games, he is 14-for-38 (.366) with the best OBP (.468) in the league. Currently, he’s the seventh-best prospect in the Yankees’ system and the eighth-best third base prospect in all of baseball.
With his demonstration of offensive consistency and showcasing his plus arm at the hot corner, Chase Headley needs to be on the lookout. Do we project Andujar to replace Headley in 2017? No. However, at this time a year ago, Gary Sanchez was expected to be nothing more than a backup catcher in 2016.
The Yankees’ top catching prospect played in just 71 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre then was promoted to the bigs before converting Brian McCann into a bench player.
Headley, who is clearly the present and not the future, could easily be shifted to a backup role or even be dealt in an Ivan Nova-like deal (sell-low) if Andujar kicks off his 2017 with an unmistakable tear.