One Man’s Trash: Andujar Har Har

The beauty of this world is that there are standards in everything. Let’s take the example of laughter. There is laughter after hearing telling a joke. There is nervous laughter like when Tommy asks Henry in the middle Goodfellas, “How am I funny, I mean I’m funny like I’m a comedian, am I making you laugh?” There’s the bad-joke-and-I-love-my-job boss. There are laughs because of PEDs. There’s a laugh when you finally realize how far something is packed. There is a better laugh than me. There’s my nose-it’s-a-volcano laugh after being surprised. There are Barry-Bonds-is-this-good? laugh. Is there Brady-Anderson-hit-how-many-home-runs-in-1996? laugh. Then there is laughter when we realize that Miguel Andujar it plays and is added by many with a legend! I’m a child. Let’s dig in.

Andujar is 29 years old, 6-foot, 211 pounds, and bats from right. He was signed by the New York Yankees as an international free agent in 2011. He spent seven years in the minors before making the majors in 2018, when he hit 27 home runs with 92 RBI in 606 plate appearances. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Shohei Ohtani. But like Milli Vanilli, Andujar was a surprise as injuries derailed his career. He missed the 2019 season with shoulder surgery and was out for most of the 2021 season with a wrist injury.

The Pittsburgh Pirates declared him inactive in 2022, then he was designated for assignment, then the Oakland Athletics claimed him in November 2023, but he tore his meniscus and missed the start of the season. In 34 plate appearances since the stint, Andujar has hit two home runs, stolen a base, and collected 12 RBI. The slash is .394/.382/.636 with a .242 ISO, a 0% walk rate and a 5.9% strikeout rate.

He’s never been a great walker with a career rate in the 6% range. He never hit too hard. The strikeout rate has only topped 20% once in his career, and that came back in 2019 with just 49 plate appearances. Andujar has shown the ability to post an ISO over .200.

First things first, Andujar is sporting a .367 BABIP, so there will be some negative regression.

Looking at the Statcast numbers, things aren’t looking too hot. The average exit velocity is only 84.6 mph. His career average is 87.8 mph. While the barrel rate of 9.4% is the second highest of his career, the launch angle is -1.6 degrees. Yes, negative! The GB/FB rate is 3.6, above a career number of 1.3. He doesn’t pull the ball, the pull rate is 31.3%. Instead, Andujar steps up in halftime.

The sample size is low, so there may be some hope here that you’ll probably start hitting more flyballs. That said, a 40% HR/FB rate is unsustainable.

If you look at the plate numbers, it’s good that he’s chasing fewer pitches out of the zone (34.7% vs 40+%). Unfortunately, there’s no way I’m buying a 0.8% strikeout rate and a 96% contact rate in the area. His career figures are 9.8% and 69.5% respectively.

Andujar is the one laughing right now, but I think we’ll all be laughing at him as he transforms into AnduJar Jar Binks.