The New York Yankees are losing Miguel Andujar, probably for the season, after the third baseman decided to have the injured labrum in his right shoulder surgically repaired, the team announced Wednesday.
Andujar, a 24-year-old who has played in only 12 games this season because of two stints on the injured list related to the ailment, will have the operation Monday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Christopher Ahmad will perform the procedure.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the recovery would “probably” end the third-year player’s season. The New York Post quoted Dr. Steven Struhl, an orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, as calling surgery “the most reliable option. With an elite athlete, there’s at least a 75-80 percent chance he comes back to his previous level, and I believe he will. The fact he’s young is a good thing.”
Stuhl said Andujar could need from six to 12 months to recover. He said Andujar could have held off on the surgery, but that while there would have been “no harm in rehabbing more … you’re pushing back his return if you wind up performing surgery.”
Andujar hit .128 with no homers and one RBI this year. In 2018, Andujar hit .297 with 27 home runs and 92 RBIs in 149 games, and he finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.
Andujar, who sustained a partial tear of the labrum in his right shoulder when he dived into third base in the third game of the season on March 31, returned from his first stint on the injured list on May 4 and played nine games before going back on the IL.
Boone said Tuesday the latest MRI exam on Andujar’s shoulder looked “about identical” to the image after his original injury.
The injury likely means continued playing time for fourth-year infielder Gio Urshela, who is hitting .330 with two home runs and 15 RBIs in 94 at-bats in filling in for Andujar.
