The Pirates are going to select infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar today, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He will take one of the spots on the expanded active roster but will need to be added to the 40-man.
Andujar, 28, got a brief stint with the Pirates earlier this year but hit just .161/.212/.387 in 13 games. He was designated for assignment in May and accepted an outright assignment. But both before and after that time in the majors, he has been crushing in Triple-A. In 102 games for Indianapolis this year, he’s hit 16 home runs and is slashing .341/.408/.541 for a wRC+ of 136. He has walked in 10.2% of his plate appearances while striking out at just an 11.7% rate.
He has had quite a few opportunities in the big leagues but hasn’t been able to capitalize on most of them. As a rookie third baseman with the Yankees in 2018, he hit .297/.328/.527 and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Shohei Ohtani. But shoulder surgery put him out of action for much of 2019, allowing Gio Urshela to have a breakout and take over the hot corner.
The Yanks then moved him around to first base and the outfield corners, but the past few years have been defined by tremendous Triple-A output and major league struggles. From 2020 to the present, he’s hit .318/.377/.525 on the farm but .237/.268/.354 in the big leagues.
For the Bucs, there’s little harm in giving him another chance to bring that excellent Triple-A production up a level. They are 61-73 and well out of contention. They traded away both Carlos Santana and Ji Man Choi prior to the deadline, leaving their first base spot somewhat open. Connor Joe is having a nice season at the plate but is a 31-year-old journeyman. Alfonso Rivas is also in the mix but is hitting just .197/.301/.394. In right field, Joshua Palacios is getting regular playing time but has a line of .210/.258/.370 this year.
The Pirates can surely find some at-bats for Andujar in there. If he finally has the major league breakout that has been hoped for in recent years, the club could benefit beyond this season. Andujar will finish this year between four and five years of service time, meaning he can be retained via arbitration for two more seasons.
Strange career. OPS+ of 130, 302 TB as 22 year old….couldn’t field, but impressive numbers, and then, injuries performance issues and “poof”. He’s been at in for 7 years, and more than half his games played were in 2018
The anal-ytics nerds Cashman employs never gave Andujar a chance after he returned from his shoulder surgery because he doesn’t walk a lot.
The sabermetric obsession with walks is its biggest blind spot. Well, maybe second compared to the ignoring of strikeouts (for hitters) in their calculations.
The only year he was semi-healthy after 2018 with the Yankees was 2022, last season. In 2019, he played a combined 15 games between the minor leagues and majors. In 2021, he played 61 games between minors and majors (45 of which were in the bigs). Even in the games where he did play in the majors after 2018, he hit just .228/.255/.318. I know you might not like analytics, and the Yankees might not be the best run franchise ever, but there are plenty of other, likely more plausable reasons other than “He doesn’t take walks, therefore analytics says he’s not good” to explain why he did not play much.
He seems to have a more upside than Rivas does at First base and at the plate
The obsession is with OBP, and a career .299 is borderline bad. If you don’t get on base, you don’t score. If you don’t score, you tend to lose. If you lose, you don’t make the playoffs…
He’s generally been a bad defender and a not great hitter.
Granted, he’s been hurt, the minor league stats are better than the majors, but at some point a duck is a duck
You can walk and get on base all you want, but if you can’t get hits with RISP -which the Yankees can’t – you don’t win ballgames, either. A team has to be balanced to win.
Neither did Andujar. .244 career with RISP and much, much worse after 2018.
I mean, we were all talking about Andujar and his shortcomings. Don’t know why you had to bring the Yankees into it
I agree. He hasn’t had consistent AB since his rookie year. He’s a good hitter but it’s hard to continue that if you only the the plate a few times a week. Loved him in NY. I’m rooting for him.
The ignoring of strikeouts is the big weak spot, as is what I call productive outs, hitting the ball to the right side, getting the guy to third, etc.
@BaseballClassic1985:
The problem isn’t with sabermetrics. Its the people who misinerpret, misuse, and misapply the data. And there is no sabermetric obsession with anything.
Not sure what you’ve been reading as of late, but strike-outs are an issue and striking out more than 25% of the time is now considered a liability when evaluating players, particularly young players who strike out.
And the issue isn’t strikeouts or walks, per se. Its K’s and walks combined, and what that actually means. It means a hitter isn’t selective enough. If he’s not selective and chase fringe pitches, then he’ll never get enough pitches he can drive unless the pitcher screws up and hangs one by mistake.
It took anal-ytics a decade to catch up with what was baseball dogma for a century…strikeouts are bad lol and yes, anal-ytics IS obsessed with walks and obp. This philosophy is what has turned MLB into a boring, Three True Outcomes snorefest.
Baseball was a lot more entertaining when players were trying to get hits instead of a walk or HR and checking their exit velocity when they return to the dugout.
If you don’t like the game the solution is easy. Stop watching pro baseball. Stop commenting on it too. No one is going to miss you.
A little salty.
Lol is it that time of the month for you? Nice team you have there in San Diego. Analytics and dropping $300 million contracts like candy is really working for ya. Gfy
If I was a Padres fan I’d be POd too. So much expected, so much disappointment.
You look like a fool when you hyphenate analytics. It’s not funny in the least.
Also, strikeouts aren’t just up because of the three true outcomes. They’re also up because everybody throws 100 now. The average league fastball is up 2.4 mph over that decade you mentioned.
Excellent Rookie season! Here’s hoping he’s found the way back “for good”
Maybe the Yankees just got lucky with him for a short period like they always do with hitters? Remember when Luke Voit suddenly turned into a middle of the order bat for a year and a half? Remember when Aaron Hicks became good for 2 years? It happens a lot for them and maybe Andujar’s early career was another example of that.
Also remember when Gio Urshela became Scott Rolen for 6 months? It happens a lot for them.
It may also show that their heavy exit velocity and launch angle philosophy ruins otherwise productive hitters
Pitchers and scouting reports figured him out – same goes for Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres with the Yankees. The shoulder injury really hurt his play. Hopefully, he’s recovered from it similar to Cody Bellinger and start raking.
Until Sanchez got to the Padres.
Sanchez has a fair shot at 300 career homeruns – which only 158 players have achieved thus far. Just gotta use him correctly and hope that he maintains his BB%.
Look at his 2019 campaign and then his 2021. He’s since rebounded and made adjustments nicely. You can look at pitch types and locations on baseballsavant to compare. Being the best hitter on the team has nothing to do with my comment.
Had to have him today for the postseason!!
Major shoulder surgery. Hasn’t quite been the same since. Perhaps there’s still something there now a few years removed from the surgery.
Shows exactly how hard / fickle baseball is? Andujar’s 2018 season must of had him thinking a 100mil + contract was a foregone conclusion?
Now @28 5yrs later he has just over 3.5 yrs service time and a list of injuries. Wonder what the next turn for him will be….? Can he get it straightened out?
MLB has room for a platoon RH power bat.
Similar career to Severino except the latter got a contract
It’s about time!
Interesting choice for promotion. He’s done great at Triple-A. I had hope he could rediscover himself after a few solid games late last season. Nothing to lose by giving him another short look.
The Yankees love guys who can hit home runs on fastballs down the middle. It is a skill. But … it does explain why Error in Judgement is so putrid in the postseason.
if only the Yanks kept this guy (and Frazier), they would never be in last place this year!
It is past time for this promotion.Andujar has not been given a steady chance since his injury so we will see what the next month brings.
The Pirates best hitter average wise has been their backup catcher so there certainly was a need especially after the trade deadline.
Maybe Cherington is smarter than all if delaying by one month gives the Pirates another arbitration year.
I hope that Andujar continues his fine hitting and eliminates a long time need at first base.
I think Bido and Z get the release and Kranick is brought up.
Bido is at best a 3 inning pitcher, Shelton often used him as a starter and by the 4th inning Bido’s pitches were being hit hard and with for extra bases. Yet our fine manager would leave him in until the game was out of reach for our weak hitting offense
Since he’s been demoted the offense has improved and fans aren’t holding their breath when he’s on the mound
Bids is a AAAA pitcher who could have been used as a 2-3 inning starter with the next bullpen pitcher ready to go if two men get on.
Apparently this is beyond Shelton’s comprehension.
Cornwhisperer, it’s good to see you back!
With only 29 games left, I wonder why they didn’t snatch one of the recently released pitchers to fill in the gap of lost starting pitchers.
It would have saved some of the arms of young pitchers and perhaps finished the season on a higher note while giving the young players some confidence.
Instead they will go with 2 maybe 3 starters and 2 relief pitchers games in between
Otherwise I agree, Suwinski has regressed, and now has twice as many ks as hits.
Joe should have been released in favor of Andujar long before now. Palacios is not part of the future neither is Carpa, or Rivas for that matter
I would have rather had another free agent starting pitcher this year as BC usually does well with them.
This year will be a step forward if they get to 73 wins but they lost a whole year last year.They should have been 500 as of now.
To be competitive next year they need someone like Sonny Gray and another bargain bin starter.
The starting pitching is beginning to form but they need more depth as the young starters still must prove themselves.I am excited about Skenes though.Oviedo really does have a low floor and a high ceiling.
Hayes has been using Joe Nunnaly,a minor league coach,as his hitting coach. I did not realize that Haines had only been here two years but it says much that both Cruz and Hayes are successfully using others.
Suwinski needs to follow suit to get someone that he is confident in.
Maybe that will tell BC something.
One reason why the offense regressed this year as a whole is Haines
Mendoza mentioned that Hayes is using a minor league hitting coach and last year Cruz used his own hitting coach
You’d think, or maybe not considering Shelton is still the manager, someone in management would take serious notice that 2 out 12 position players have improved while the other 10 haven’t
I,once again,am a cautious optimist.
But,then again,I have the looks in the family but not the brains
They do have a 500 record over the last 40 games which is a plus.
Us Pirate fans have to be joyous over small wins.
But they just swept the Royals,who,other than Regans,look like a very good AAA team to me.
I guess what I meant by “forming” is at least some of the pitchers now show some upside,and the Pirates seem to have a defined plan,if not only with two “ openers”.Some of these guys are either openers or long relievers,but if they do well,it may work to some extant until the prospects either are or turn out to be suspects.
Clevinger might be fine as the extra starter.I am hoping that they will splurge and $45-48M is enough to get Gray.
The problem that I see is Haines and that Cherington does not see Shelton’s blemishes,which may be because he is creating many of them with what may be his slavery to analytics
The Andujar era begins!
Yankees fans still out there calling Andujar untouchable in trade talks and only putting him in hypothetical deals for a superstar. What a time that was. 😀
www-cbssports-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cbssp…
Guy should be mashing and winning the September MVP.
Of course there wasn’t only one reason he struggled, but if you follow the Yankees closely, they seem to fall in love with HR hitters who can draw some walks, strikeouts be damned.
Andujar was up there to swing and gets hits. Mathletes in the front office would rather have players like Gallo, who runs into a pitch once a week and draws a decent amount of walks. Don’t worry about his 40 to 50% strikeout rate or that he rarely makes contact.
I’m not claiming that if they had just let Andujar play he would’ve returned to his rookie form, it’s just that he didn’t fit their analytic mold, so they basically buried him. I hope he can be productive in Pittsburgh because he is a decent hitter and seemingly a good guy.
Look, you can’t play if you’re injured, and most of the time, playing through an injury will make things worse and a player’s performance won’t be up to snuff. From 2019 to 2022, he played a combined 195 games for the Yankees between their minor league and major league teams. That’s less than one and a quarter major league seasons. There were a total of 536 Yankees games played from 2019 up through the time the Pirates claimed him off waivers. Even if all 195 games were major league games (which they weren’t), that would still amount to just over a third of total games played. I don’t see how they burried him on the depth chart if one, he barely played and wasn’t reliable for long stretchs of time, and two, was clearly not good when given the chance.
There’s plenty of current players who are given chances and show they’re unable to perform at the major league level.
Carpa has no business playing at the major league level, nor does Rivas yet both are given chances to play.
And while they won without Hayes on Wednesday, Shelton’s ridiculous decision to sit the team’s hottest hitter because “ it was his scheduled day off” is absurd
Hayes can take time off when the season is over
Shelton forget that the whole team had a scheduled day off the next day.
I think that he is programmed by a computer using AI.
My guess is that his lineups are designed by AI also.
In that case I am not sure why they need Shelton.
But some of that may be coming from BC.
Totally agree regarding Capra and Rivas. Unfortunately, Andujar has been similar to Rivas in killing AAA pitching but not being able to hit major league pitching. Both strike out swinging most of the time. My only hope is that Andujar has really cut down on his strikeouts this year in AAA. Hopefully his pitch recognition has improved.
In 103 games at Indy this year Andujar struck out 55 times and that is with 414 ABs.
He also drove in 86 runs and batted.338
So the real question is why wasn’t he promoted sooner ?
Paul-I have been asking that question for two months after he was raking in AAA for two months and when it was apparent that the Pirates needed hitters.
They promoted guys like Davis and Gonzalez when they had not proved themselves in AAA.Suwinski has barely played in AAA.
Andujar May be a complete bust but if they gave him two months of consistent at bats he could prove himself one way or another.
Joe is not a good first baseman in the least.Half way between Alvarez and Santana.Andujar has been playing there a lot this year.
The Pirates owe it to themselves to figure out whether this guy can hit ML pitching or not,and if not give him a chance with another club,
Speaking of Endy, he’s played first base in the minors so if Shelton is serious about him getting playing time, why isn’t he at first when Delay is catching?
Nothing against Delay but he’s not part of the core players of the future, neither is Rivas, so not using Endy at first when he’s not behind the plate is another boneheaded move I can’t comprehend of Shelton’s lineups
2 years of Haines’ hitting instruction and they haven’t improved much if at all from last season. If he’s back next season, it will probably be more of the same
Last in runs scored and lowest team average in the league
Not sure he can understand something as logical as your comment, MLB1225.
Thank you for admitting you don’t understand math, or baseball. It takes a brave person to admit that a 3rd grade education like yours won’t take you far in this world.
let’s go miggy! when healthy he’s fun to watch (best bad-ball hitter since sheffield)
Hall of Fame is back on
The Yankees should trade Andujar for a young controllable ace. If the other team won’t budge throw in Clint Fraizer, and if they play hard ball, then sweeten the deal with Luke Voit.
Bob Prince said it best.
Got a round bat,got a round ball,got to hit it square.
If any player comes back from a major injury and does not get at least two to three months of consistent at bats,and especially if he was successful enough to be the runnerup ROY,There is no absolute proof that he cannot return to being a good major league hitter.
Sometimes with these guys the situation and the coaching and the management have to break right for them to get a chance.
Nobody ruined him if he had any brains at all.He may not be much good.
But he deserves to get a reasonable chance to show one way or the other.
When there’s only 29 games left in the season, and with Shelton’s pull a lineup out of his hat approach it’s doubtful Andujar will get the playing time he deserves
Rivas is at first base in tonight’s game and Jack is batting 5th, behind another weak hitter, Connor Joe.
I’m almost surprised Capra isn’t in the lineup
I have agreed with almost all of their personnel moves this year but they have given Rivas a chance and not to give Andujar consistent playing time would be a travesty both for him and the Pirates.
He is probably in transit today though.
AAAA player
Capra has no reason to be in the majors, Oveido apparently can’t read the time clock and Andujar showed why they should have called him up earlier than the other day
Suwinski needs to learn how to hit the ball the other way, why he’s playing against a lefty is once again beyond my comprehension