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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Here's a remnant of this week's Yankees mail:
The Yankees do not need to react immediately to struggling third baseman Miguel Andujar. They may continue to give him low shots even though Aaron Hicks is back on Monday. At the bottom of the order, he does not kill the whole offense.
But if he continues in this momentum, it will be time to play.
Andujar has only hit .088 (3-in-34) in nine games since being pulled off the squad on May 4.
Yankees explode rays, Tropicana Field is out of power | Quick reaction
The New York Yankees hammered the Tampa Bay Rangers, 7-1, at Tropicana Field on Sunday.
The question is whether Andujar – the reigning American League rookie, known for his bat – is just rusty? Or does he still have problems with the right shoulder labrum that he partially tore up on March 31?
And can the Yankees continue to beat him or should they do everything in their power to get him off the list so that he can be right?
The answer to it is clear: Andujar can not continue like this. The answer to the first is more difficult.
Here is the scary thing. This does not seem to be a matter of luck for the 24-year-old slugger. According to the MLB's Statcast, Andujar put 35 balls in play, and he did not put one. (Statcast calls these "barrels" – as when you receive the balloon.It says that Andujar did not do it once.)
In the final season, Andujar hit 6.3% of his balls, which would be about the league average in 2019.
Obviously, they can not play Andujar against Gio Urshela. They already said that they knew it. Urshela is a better defender than Andujar will ever be and his stick could start giving way. Urshela strikes .341 with a .902 OPS – and all they think about manager Aaron Boone and head coach Marcus Thames is that it's all about pivoting Urshela.
The Yankees might consider another trip to IL for Andujar, rather than sending it down to shore. This would give Andujar more time to understand the situation – and could give him a rehab mission – while the Yankees ride Urshela. They would have an integrated excuse to put it on the IL with the labrum still torn.
And if things do not improve after that, then it could be an operation that would end his season.
Brendan Kuty can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.
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