The Andujar we’ve known is missing since return from IL

Miguel Andujar is back from what could have been a season-ending injury. The third baseman rehabbed through a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder and got back on the active roster in just over a month. But is he fully back? Since returning on Saturday, Andujar has gone 2for-18 at the plate with a walk and a strikeout. He’s also

made two errors at third base.

He went 0-for-3 in the Yankees’ 3-1 victory over the Mariners on Thursday night, extending his slump to 0for-16.

“Like I mentioned before, bad days are going to happen, re- gardless of how good you feel,” Andujar said Wednesday night after the Yankees’ 10-1 loss to the Mariners. “Especially when you face good pitching like tonight, but I am confident in myself and the way I know I can hit.”

The Yankees are counting on it, because he has never earned his starts with his glove. Aaron Boone said he is confident Andujar will overcome this slow start.

“He’s just not there yet, although he’s hit a number of balls on the button,” Boone said. “He lined out to the fence two nights ago where it was probably 105 off the bat where he really smoked it. He just missed a home run down the line last night.

“He’s not totally locked in like when Miggy really gets it rolling and he’s hanging line drives it seems every at-bat. He’ll get there. There’s no doubt in my mind. He’s that good of a hitter. But he has to just get through this little stretch where he’s finding his way, and he will.”

Right now, Andujar doesn’t look like the same player who hit 27 homers and drove in 92 runs to finish as runner-up to Shohei Ohtani in the American League Rookie of the Year voting last season.

Still, Boone doesn’t think the struggles will get to Andujar, who is known around the Yankees as a hard worker.

“He’s really good,” Boone said. “You’re going to go through this as a big leaguer even when you’re a really good player, so he’ll work his way through it and it’ll be fun when he does.”

When that will be is uncertain as he went through a pretty significant injury.

Andujar suffered the labrum injury sliding back into third base on March 31. Instead of season-ending surgery, Andujar said the doctors told him he could likely strengthen the muscles around the shoulder and stabilize it. The condition would not affect his hitting as much as his throwing, shoulder experts said at the time.

Andujar was never going to be confused for a great fielding third baseman. He committed 15 errors last season, the fourth most at third in the majors. He had a -16 UZR, the defensive rating that tries to put a number on how many runs a player saves or costs his team with his glove, last season and is -17.1 so far this year.

That is why Andujar had been the Yankees’ designated hitter in the three games prior to last night, which may also explain why he has been struggling to get back into a rhythm.

“I mean, of course, you want to help out as much as you can. Either as a hitter or on the field. I am happy every day I get to the ballpark and I see my name in the lineup,” Andujar said. “I see that as an opportunity to help the team. Still happy to be in there.”

During his absence, the Yankees — pitchers especially — have enjoyed the mostly terrific defense of Gio Urshela at third. While he committed errors in the last two games, Urshela is a significantly better defensive player than Andujar. Last year, Urshela had an 0.8 UZR.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, however, Urshela left Wednesday night’s game with a bruise after fouling a pitch off his left knee. X-Rays were negative for any serious damage, but Urshela was limping gingerly and struggling to put weight on the knee.

That didn’t seem to affect him on Thursday, however, as his two-run single provided the Yankees with their margin of victory.