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        <title><![CDATA[The baseball wait has been particularly torturous for Yankees’ Miguel Andujar]]></title>
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        <lastBuildDate>Fri, 08 May 2020 18:34:44 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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            <media:title type="html">The baseball wait has been particularly torturous for Yankees’ Miguel Andujar</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If waiting for baseball to return is the hardest part for fans, players, coaches, scouts and front office types during the coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t new to Miguel Andujar.</p><p>Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, he has last year to lean on.</p><p>Instead of getting ready to open a delicious three-game series against the Red Sox on Friday night at Yankee Stadium, Andujar remains in Tampa preparing for when MLB and the Players Association can find a way to have a shortened season.</p><p>“I miss it a lot. You put together the fact that I missed so much time last year and then working myself back over many months and now we have to wait,’’ Andujar wrote to The Post on Thursday in an e-mail exchange.</p><p>After a sensational rookie year in which Andujar hit .297 with 27 homers, 92 RBIs, posted a .865 OPS and played in 149 games, <strong>2019 was almost a complete washout</strong>.</p><p>In the third game of the season on March 31, Andujar injured the right shoulder diving into third base in the fourth inning of a 7-5 loss to the woeful Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Moved to the injured list on April 1, Andujar missed the next 28 games.</p><figure id="attachment_15630471"  class="wp-caption alignright"><strong><noscript><img data- data-src="/uploads/2020/05/miguel-andujar-yankees-coronoavirus-return-waiting.jpg" class="lazyload" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" /><noscript><img  data-src="/uploads/2020/05/miguel-andujar-yankees-coronoavirus-return-waiting.jpg" /></noscript></noscript><img class="lazyload" src='data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E' data- data-src="/uploads/2020/05/miguel-andujar-yankees-coronoavirus-return-waiting.jpg" /></strong><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><span>Miguel Andujar</span><span class="credit">Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post</span></figcaption></figure><p>When he returned Andujar started nine games at third base, hit .088 (3-for-34), didn’t homer or drive in a run and posted a .203 OPS. Clearly, something was wrong with the shoulder and he was diagnosed with a torn right labrum and underwent season-ending surgery on May 20. In a dozen games total in 2019 Andujar hit .128 (6-for-47) with no extra base hits and a .271 OPS.</p><p>That led to Gio Urshela being summoned from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and he played so well last year he entered spring training as <strong>the favorite to be the Opening Day third baseman</strong>.</p><p>“I just have to keep a positive mindset,’’ Andujar wrote. “We are in a situation that no one can control so they know now to keep a positive mindset and be prepared for baseball when the time comes.’’</p><p>While Andujar waits he does so with the knowledge the shoulder has healed well.</p><p>“I feel great. I am working out five days a week building strength, working with the trainers, exercising and doing my best to stay sharp,’’ Andujar wrote. ‘It’s been almost a year since my injury and I feel 100 percent. I am very happy where I am at physically. For a while I was working out away from (Steinbrenner Field) with a trainer, hitting and staying sharp. I am back at the complex doing everything I can to prepare myself.’’</p><p>With Urshela coming off an All Star-type season with the bat and being a terrific defender, Andujar could be looking <strong>at receiving playing time at several positions</strong>, two of which he has almost no experience.</p><p>“I am ready to play wherever the team needs me. I am ready to play, period. I’ve continued to prepare to play any position I am asked to play,’’ said Andujar who played several games during the shortened spring training in left field and one at first base.</p><p>Of course, he can be used as the DH, too.</p><p>“I look at it as having a number of doors open for me,&#8221; Andujar said. &#8220;They are all opportunities for me to play and I am going to try to take advantage of everything that is presented to me.’’</p><p>What has definitely been presented to Andujar is something he has recent experience with: playing the waiting game.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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