BABY BOMBER HAVING A BLAST
Andujar continues to deliver the big hits for Yankees with 2-run HR in 7th
If they ever ask when it happened that Miguel Andujar jumped ahead of his teammate and the rest of the pack in the running for Rookie of the Year, I will point to Saturday afternoon.
The 23-year-old hammered a two-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh, powering the Yankees to a 5-3 win over the Rangers at the Stadium.
It was his major league rookie-leading 55th RBI and his 17th home run of the season, the third best among rookies this season. It is one homer behind his teammate and fellow rookie Gleyber Torres, who has also had a spectacular freshman season.
While Torres and Rangers’ first baseman Ronald Guzman, who hit three homers Friday night, have put up impressive numbers and stats that could back their cases for the honor, it is the way Andujar has built up his resume that is so impressive.
The Yankees third baseman’s resume already has big, impact hits on it.
Zach Britton had struggled Saturday and Dellin Betances had balked to bring in two runs and tie the game against the struggling Rangers. In the bottom of that in- ning, Andujar attacked a fastball from Rangers’ right-handed reliever Chris Martin to turn the tables in a split second. It was his fourth career goahead hit in the seventh inning or later and his second this week. It was his second go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later he hit a grand slam on June 5 in Toronto. Saturday’s homer was his 50th extra-base hit of the season, most among major league rookies. It also puts him in some impressive, historic company. He is the 13th Yankees rookie to collect at least 50 extra-base hits in a season. His 52 career extra-base hits through the first 110 games of his career (five games in 2017), are third in franchise history behind Joe DiMaggio (77) and Bob Meusel (57).
He’s shown the wisdom of a veteran hitter at times this season, his manager said.
“Not only is he a good hitter, he’s a smart hitter,” Aaron Boone said. “I think he does a
y w w clubs and pitchers are trying to do to him. I think he’s really good at going up there with a plan of what he wants to get done. Another big hit for him obviously in a big spot.”
And that to me is what has to give Andujar the edge in any honors for rookies this season: he is delivering crucial hits in big spots for a team that is positioning itself for the playoffs.
The Angels’ two-way phenom, Shohei Ohtani, has
w fallen out of the conversation. Torres has flashed his brilliance this season — he has 18 homers and 52 RBI — but has seemingly hit a wall since coming off the disabled list after a right hip strain.
Meanwhile Andujar has come up big.
In a series where the Yankees need to build up their wins for their postseason position, after veteran pitchers had killed the momentum and on a miserable day, Andujar
v knockout blow Saturday.
“It was huge,” said Yankees’ slugger Giancarlo Stanton. “That was huge."
What has impressed Boone is watching how Andujar has adjusted over the season as teams have changed the way they pitch to him.
Andujar just shrugged it off.
“You have to stick to your plan, I go out there and I have a plan, look to finding the pitch to hit, hit it hard and hit
w , of his homer Saturday.
While awards debates are for the hotstove season, it should also be a point of pride for the Yankees’ player development system. With Torres and Andujar leading this year’s class, the Yankees could become just the third organization in the American League to have back-to-back Rookies of the Year with Aaron Judge winning in 2017.
They would join the Senators (1958-59 with Albie Pearn)
n and the A’s, who did it twice (1987-88 with Mark McGwire and Walt Weiss and 2004-05 with Bobby Crosby and Huston Street). It’s been done 10 times on the National League side with the Dodgers twice winning it three years in a row.
While that will be fun to debate down the stretch, it will be much more interesting to see Andujar continue to develop into an impact player in the truly big moments of the postseason.