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The beauty of our daily birthday series is that it goes to every corner of Yankees history. True figures in American history, relievers with a couple of years in the mid-’90s, and in this case, one-hit wonders. Miguel Andujar had a thunderous start to his MLB career with the “Baby Bombers,” but quickly fizzled out and has since bounced around various organizations.
Andujar burned brightly for the Yankees, but unfortunately for him and the club, that light only shined for a brief time. Once thought to be a part of the organization’s future, the infielder quickly fell to a perennial hypothetical trade chip, before eventually being claimed off of waivers.
Miguel Andujar
Born: March 2, 1995 (San Christobal, DR)
Yankees Tenure: 2017-22
Miguel Andujar, born on this day in 1995 in the Dominican Republic, first signed with the Yankees in July of 2011 at just 16 years old. He began his professional career in the minors a year later, holding his own with solid offensive production, though never posting numbers that would make those at the big league level jump out of their seats.
In 2017, while the Yankees were in the midst of an exciting campaign in the Bronx, led by phenomenal rookie Aaron Judge, Andujar was putting up his best season to date, posting an .850 OPS between Double-A and Triple-A. It earned him a MLB debut in June of that year, and a cup of coffee with the big club — five games and eight plate appearances, to be exact.
The following year, however, Andujar was given a crack at a legitimate role in the Bronx, and he did not miss his opportunity. Although it looks much different in hindsight, the right-hander’s 2018 season was a mighty promising one at the time.
He was with the club from the beginning of the season and never really looked back. Along with fellow infielder Gleyber Torres, Andujar helped lead the charge for an exciting young Yankees team. He began the year in an 0-for-12 slide but quickly righted the ship and became an indispensable part of the everyday lineup.
He hit his first career home run on April 17th, and followed it the next day with another, kicking off a hot finish to the season’s first month. He continued to produce through the early part of the season, including a 17-game stretch between May and June where he hit just shy of .400 with five home runs. All in all, it was an excellent start for the young infielder.
On the whole, Andujar just kept on hitting, and posted what was a terrific rookie season. He slashed .297/.328/.527 in over 600 plate appearances, hit 27 home runs, and suddenly became a vital part of the lineup. Considering Judge’s extended absence that season, his production became all the more important. Not only did he rack up the team’s second most plate appearances behind Giancarlo Stanton (imagine?), but in that workload, his 129 wRC+ was the best on the team among qualified hitters, and his 3.9 fWAR was the third-highest total on the squad as well. Not only was it an impressive showing for a 23-year-old rookie, but it was a simply great offensive campaign, and one that helped fuel the Yankees that season.
He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting that season, falling victim to Shohei Ohtani’s historic abilities, but the potential was already clear to the Yankees. In perhaps an even less predictable change of course, that would be by far the best of his days in pinstripes and in the Major Leagues to this point.
He lost almost the entire 2019 season to a shoulder injury, and in the 12 games he did play, he found a way to put up -1.2 bWAR, a resoundingly bad pace. In the shortened 2020 season, Andujar played in just 21 games, but still was not himself, posting a 71 wRC+ and homering just once.
Hoping for another shot at a full season of work in 2021, Andujar was once again sidelined for much of the year with wrist problems. Appearing in just 45 games, he continued to sink to below-average production at the plate, and posted a third consecutive sub-replacement level season on the whole. With his outstanding rookie season now several years in the past, his favor in New York had just about run out.
After 100 even less convincing plate appearances to begin the ‘22 season, Andujar had met his end with the Yankees, and was eventually picked up on waivers by the Pirates. Although he continued to post unimpressive numbers for the rest of that season, his limited action with the team in 2023 saw him above water with the bat (105 wRC+) for the first time since that huge 2018 campaign.
In 2024, he produced at about the same rate for the Athletics, playing in easily his most games since his ‘18 year as well. That brings us to 2025, a season in which Andujar may have revived his career to some degree. In 95 games between the Athletics and the Reds, the free-swinging Andujar once again reached double-digit home runs, and posted a wRC+ (125) that was the second best in his major league career.
Against the odds, at this point in his career, Andujar parlayed that much-delayed rebound season into a big league deal with the Padres for 2026.
Despite the electric start to his tenure, Miguel Andujar’s time with the Yankees can only be described as a disappointment, considering the standards he set for himself. After a huge rookie season, he has failed to play in over 100 games since, and followed up that year with four consecutive below-average seasons at the plate.
Now into his 30s, however, Andujar may have given himself a second life at the big-league level. As he climbs out of years of poor performance and injury trouble, hopefully his 31st birthday will bring the former Baby Bomber more success on the diamond.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.