Miguel Andujar might have a significant injury, but that isn’t stopping the New York Yankees from finding a way to keep him in the lineup.
Dismantled by injuries, the New York Yankees are trying to keep Miguel Andujar’s bat in the lineup on a consistent basis.
Talking to the media before the game, manager Aaron Boone threw the idea of Andujar moving from his primary position at third base to first or the DH slot.
If Miguel Andújar is able to avoid surgery, Aaron Boone says the Yankees will be having conversations about how best to minimize Andújar’s throwing upon his IL return.
Those convos will include whether they want him to make him a DH-only player, or if they will move him to 1B.
— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) April 18, 2019
Should Andujar move to one of those positions, the entire depth chart shifts a little. If he moves to first, that could possibly take a spot away from Luke Voit on a consistent basis. If he goes to the DH spot, it forces Giancarlo Stanton to play left field every day.
By moving him, the Yankees are trying to limit his throwing while keeping his lethal bat in the lineup. The 2018 Rookie of the Year runner-up, has a .298 career batting average while smacking 27 home runs and 49 doubles in his first 157 games.
In his major league career, Andujar has never played anywhere in the field but third base. Prior to the start of 2018, the Yankees were planning to have Andujar experiment over at first in Triple-A, but they needed him to fill on Brandon Drury at the major league level.
Andujar was diagnosed with a small labrum tear in early April after diving back into third on a pickoff attempt. The fear was the injury would cost him all of 2019 should he elect to get the surgery, but now there is a chance he could make a return.
DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela will continue to get the reps over at third while the Yankees are without Andujar, and they might end up having to stay with that the rest of the season.
