The Pirates announced that they have activated left-hander Rob Zastryzny from the injured list, with outfielder Miguel Andujar designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Andujar, 28, was selected to the club’s roster three weeks ago but has hit just .161/.212/.387 in his 33 plate appearances since then. He had earned that call-up with a .284/.364/.500 showing in Triple-A but wasn’t able to bring any of that production up to the big leagues with him.
It’s yet another unfortunate development in Andujar’s career, one that seemed so promising a few years ago. He hit .297/.328/.527 for the Yankees in 2018, finishing second to Shohei Ohtani in Rookie of the Year voting. Unfortunately, he required season-ending shoulder surgery after just 12 games in 2019 and hasn’t seemed the same since. Once he returned to health in 2020, the Yankees had filled his third base position with players like DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela, which squeezed him out of regular playing time. Over the past few years, he’s continued to hit well in Triple-A but struggled whenever given another shot at the majors. Going back to the start of 2020, he’s hit .291/.346/.508 in the minors but just .237/.268/.354 in the big leagues.
The Bucs will now have a week to either trade Andujar or pass him through waivers. He’s making a salary of $1.525MM this year, which could factor into how this plays out. While some teams might be intrigued by his past success and Triple-A numbers, they would have to be willing to take on that money. Andujar was passed through waivers in January without anyone putting in a claim. He would have had the right to reject an outright assignment at that time but would have had to forfeit that money and ultimately accepted, which could be the same script that is followed in the coming days.
Man was this guy the hype a few years ago. With his pinstripe pal Frazier
Unlike Frazier, he put up numbers to back it up. I don’t know what happened after his shoulder surgery to keep him from getting back to what he was.
Losing regular playing time was the key. Young baseball players need repetition in order to improve or even maintain. The Yanks killed his career chances by not trading him once they had replaced him with Urshela.
He STILL might not have done much. There have been lots of 2nd place ROY finishers that didn’t do much after their first year. But at least he could have had the chance to fail at a full time job instead of a part time one.
Nah the cream always rises to the top. He just didn’t have it
That’s a false assumption. More cream can rise to the top in a different container.
At the very least, trading him when he had value would have been better for the Yankees even if Andujar did flop.
Only casual fans and Yankee haters hyped him. His defense was atrocious. Frazier falling off a cliff was due to multiple concussions. Guy couldn’t get right after head injuries and you knock him for it. Bravo
Andujar will probably head to Korea next year and hopefully figure it out. We probably won’t see him again until a few years into his 30s.
A nice visit to Japan should be the cure that ails him
This dude can’t get more than a cup of coffee & a cream filled donut in the bigs anymore.
If you can give peace a chance, give Andujar one as well.
Miami immediately comes to mind. Jean Segura’s production so far this year is right on par with what you’d expect from a potted plant. Andujar can’t do any worse. Problem is I don’t know what they’d do with Jean. Marlins don’t eat contracts no matter how large or small.
Put him in RF. He could out produce any of mannequins they’ve had out there so far with one arm tied behind his back.
have fun. Andrujar was a complete waste of ABs for the Bucs
Sano may actually be an upgrade. at least he would’ve hit a HR
2018. If I was teaching math, statistics specifically, I could never find a better example when defining and exemplifying “outlier”. Did MLB PED testing take the year off in 2018? wow
claude raymond Well we do know they messed with the ball the following year, at least. In 2019 we had career contact/OBP/defense DJ LeMahieu hitting 26 HR’s, and an old career contact/speed/defense Brett Gardner pushing towards 30 HR’s.
In Andujar’s case, it’s probably just a combination of pitchers adjusting to him and figuring out weaknesses as the league saw more of him, plus the torn labrum sapping his power swing. The defense was always bad.
Brady Anderson’s 1996 is the pinnacle of outliers.
Louis Gonzalez in 2001 says hello
Patting myself on the back for predicting this a week ago. They had 14 bats 12 arms and a bunch of days off. Figured he was going to be gone since he sucked and was out of options when they got back to a more normal schedule. Kind of disappointing he couldn’t get it going though not a surprise at all. I wonder if anyone may want to kick the tires but they didn’t in January so doubtful they would now.
They need LHH in the worst way after losing Cruz and Choi. Endy hasn’t dominated and he was hurt so not sure he’ll be the answer everyone is hoping for. Maybe look externally?
At least 6 on the active roster are either LHH or switch hitters. I’m not saying they shouldn’t look for more, but it’s not too pressing of a need.
It’s refreshing to see Pirates fans not trying to trade Andujar for Trout, Ohtani, or any other star player
Yeah, about as hilarious as fans of big market teams wondering why teams like the Pirates won’t simply give its few stars away for middling prospects who’ll never see the majors.
You sox fans and your fascination with all things Yankees is so funny.
Why would they? Trout and Ohtani is obviously not enough to get a team into the playoffs, so why bother?
Are you sure about that? Nobody in the division is setting the world on fire right now.
They should trade him for Mike Trout. Dude is the best 3rd baseman to walk the earth
Mike Fiers destroyed this kid’s career 🙁
Mike Fiers destroyed a lot more than that.
Cleveland May be a good next stop,
Rob needs to buy a vowel.
“I don’t get the joke”
—- Marc Rzepczynski
I was one that defended his promotion to the parent club and while he hit 2 homers and drove in 6 runs in his first two games, one of those was off a position player for the Nationals
He hasn’t done anything significant since
He was given an opportunity and he failed to show he belonged in the majors
I was one that laughed at Yankees fans for thinking Adujar would be anything more than temporary filler as a bench bat for the Bucs while they were trying to say he deserved another chance as an everyday starter.
Deluded fools.
Yeah, but you’re also the guy who said it was time to give Palacios a look. And he sure looked good in last night’s debut
So many knowledgable baseball people on here! Im surprised none of you have been offered a scouting or director job
it’s called “ opinions “. Get out your Thesaurus and look up the definition
The word you’re looking for is dictionary.
Yep they know absolutely everything about nothing
He plays wrong position for seattle but couldn’t do much worse than Wong or even a few bench bats we have. Seems like 90% of the team bats around .215 or so. The money is there but no real star quality hitters on offense. Hope we get Otani or Trout at the end of the year.
It’s been said that if you give Shelton some players, then you will see a good manager. Well he has some decent players. The may tumble is all his doing. He bats his two best hitters at the top of the lineup. This guy has no set lineup and no knowledge of baseball strategy.
He should be terminated and they should hire an older manager to get the best out of the kids.
Shelton couldn’t manage a t ball team