Miguel Andujar Just Keeps Hitting
When MIguel Andujar burst onto the scene in 2018, he was playing third base for the New York Yankees and ended up hitting .297 with a .328 OBP and 27 home runs. It was one heck of an introduction to the league.
In the years since, Andujar hasn't had the same success that he first enjoyed in the Bronx, spending parts of the next four seasons in pinstripes before ultimately being DFA'd by the Yankees and scooped up by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played in 39 total games with Pittsburgh in 2022 and 2023 before hitting the waiver wire once more. The A's claimed him in November.
Now at 29 years old, Andujar is attempting to reestablish himself as a big leaguer, and A's fans are cautiously optimistic that he can be a difference-maker.
Andujar spent most of 2023 in the minor leagues, batting .338 with a .404 on-base--both of which are career highs--in 103 games. The sample size was big enough to think that he was ready for another extended chance in the Majors, and the A's are a team that's notorious for providing those chances. Think 2023 All-Star (and fellow waiver claim) Brent Rooker who now figures to be a big trade target for contending teams at the deadline this year.
Andujar continued hitting, even after the minor league season was over, batting .306 with a .344 OBP in 31 Dominican Winter League games, and then .357 with a .372 OBP in 42 spring at-bats. At the end of March, Andujar had to undergo right knee lateral meniscus surgery, which kept him out of action for the first two months of the 2024 season, but now he is back in the A's lineup and we're getting the answer to the question of whether he can hit MLB pitching after raking everywhere else for nearly a non-stop year.
That answer (through six games) is a resounding yes.
He is 9-for-24 (.375) with a home run, eight RBI, and an 8% strikeout rate. The A's offense had some hot hitters in May, but if you need a hit, or to move the runner over, Andujar is the guy for the job. He's a professional hitter. He may not crank them out of the ballpark like Aaron Judge (sorry, John), but he is able to do what the situation calls for.
The one flaw in his limited time has been off-speed pitches. He is 0-for-3 against them and they're the only pitch type he has a whiff against (12.5%). He's hitting .455 against breaking balls and .400 against heaters, with the analytics backing up those numbers as well.
It looks like he has unlocked a new approach that has helped him return to the big leagues, and the A's look to be the beneficiaries because they were able to give him the chance he needed to re-establish himself.
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.