Miguel Andújar

Miguel Enrique Andújar

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 215 lb.

• Debut June 28, 2017

• Born March 2, 1995 in San Cristobal, San Cristobal D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Third baseman Miguel Andújar was signed by the New York Yankees before the 2012 season. He began his career with the GCL Yankees as a 17-year-old in 2012, and returned to the circuit with the GCL Yankees 2 in 2013 when he hit .323 with 4 homers and 25 RBI in 34 games. In 2014, he played a full season with the Charleston RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League, hitting .267/.318/.397 in 127 games. He slugged 25 doubles and 10 homers, scored 75 runs and drove in 70. After spending 2015 with the Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League, he split the 2016 season between Tampa and the Trenton Thunder of the AA Eastern League. He had another good season, as he combined for a batting line of .273/.332/.410 in 130 games, while still being well below the average age for players in AA. He hit 26 doubles and 12 homers and drove in 83 runs.

Andújar started the 2017 season back with Trenton, where he hit .312 with 23 doubles and 7 homers in 67 games, He was promoted to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in late June when top prospect Gleyber Torres, who was playing third base for the team, was lost for the rest of the season to an injury. He hit .308 in 7 games when he got another promotion, this one to The Show, a promotion that would certainly have gone to Torres had he not been injured. Taking advantage of the unexpected opportunity in his debut on June 28th, he had 3 hits and 4 RBI in a 12-3 win over the Chicago White Sox. He played just 5 games for New York, hitting .571 in 5 games. In AAA, he hit .317 in 58 games, with 9 homers and 30 RBI.

Andújar went to spring training in 2018 with considerable anticipation, as there were a couple of spots open in the team's infield. He quickly emerged as a favorite by hitting 4 homers and 2 doubles in his first 19 Grapefruit League at-bats. The Yankees were not quite prepared to hand him a starting job, hedging their bets by acquiring a couple veteran infielders in Brandon Drury and Neil Walker, while more experienced minor leaguer Tyler Wade was on track to land a back-up spot. Andújar was sent down to the minor leagues on March 18th, although he was now very much on the Yankees' radar for the future. When outfielder Billy McKinney went on the disabled list on April 1st, Miguel was immediately called up and made his season debut as the DH against the Toronto Blue Jays. He started 0-for-12 in his first three games and was hitting just .107 after 7 games when he found his hitting stroke. Starting on April 13th, he had a streak of 6 games in which he had at least one extra-base hit, with at least 2 hits in five of the six games. He went a combined 13 for 24 with 7 doubles, a triple and 2 homers to improve to .308. In the 6th game, a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays on April 22nd, he went 4 for 5 with a pair of doubles. The burst of production came at a fortuitous time, as the Yankees had to place starting third baseman Brandon Drury on the disabled list with blurred vision and migraine headaches, with no return date set.

On April 23rd, Miguel doubled and homered in a 14-1 beating of the Minnesota Twins to extend his extra-base streak to seven games. He hit his first career grand slam on June 5th, off Seung-hwan Oh of the Blue Jays, to lead New York to a 7-2 win. It was his 7th long ball of the season. He was named the American League Rookie of the Month for June after hitting .264 with 24 hits, including 6 doubles and 7 homers, while racking up 20 RBI. In August, he won the honor a second time when he hit .320 with 10 homers and 29 RBI. He hit his 47th double of the season in his final game, September 30th, tying the AL rookie mark set by Fred Lynn in 1975. He finished the year at .297 with 27 homers and 92 RBI in 149 games, and was second in the Rookie of the Year vote, behind Shohei Ohtani. In the postseason, he had a hit and a walk in two plate appearances against the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card Game and was 1 for 9 in the Yankees' loss to the Boston Red Sox in the Division Series.

He started the 2019 season by going 3 for 13 in the Yankees' opening series against the Baltimore Orioles, but on April 1st, he was placed on the injured list with a right shoulder strain. The Yankees were very concerned this was caused by a labrum tear and that he would need surgery to repair it, which would cost him the season. He did not undergo surgery (at first) and was back in the lineup on May 4th, but on May 13th he returned to the IL due to the same injury, going 3 for 34 in his brief return. On May 15th, the Yankees announced he would undergo the season-ending surgery. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he played in 21 games for the Yankees, hitting .242 with 1 homers and 5 RBIs. He was moved to the outfield to reduce the strain on his throwing shoulder, a move that turned out to be pretty much permanent. He did not appear in the postseason. In 2021 he played 45 games for New York, batting .253 with 6 homers and 12 RBis and once again could not reclaim a regular spot on the team, missing time with more injuries and also playing 16 games in AAA with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. It was more of the same at the start of 2022, as he began the season in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, then was called up to New York at the end of April when the team suffered a rash of injuries, and then going back down once and back up once in the next month. This started to frustrate him and after being optione back to Scranton a third time on June 4th, he requested a trade from the team, stating that he wanted to go to a team that would give him a chance to play regularly.

Notable Achievements

• 2018 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2018)

Further Reading

• Bryan Hoch: "Andújar requests trade from Yankees", mlb.com, June 4, 2022. [1]

Related Sites

• Miguel Andujar on mlb.com
• BR Minors page