A's New Addition Miguel Andujar Raking in Winter League
The A's claimed Miguel Andujar off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates back in early November after he played in just 30 games for the Pirates in 2023. In that playing time he hit .250 with a .300 OBP, knocked four homers, stole a couple of bags, and struck out just 14.4% of the time.
Oakland decided to take a chance on Andujar after that performance, plus the .338 average with a .404 OBP and 16 homers he put up in 103 games in Triple-A.
In the Dominican Winter League, Andujar has kept the hits coming. Through 31 games he is batting .306 with a .344 OBP, a pair of homers, and a team-high 19 rbi. He has struck out nine times in 131 plate appearances, or 6.9% of the time.
The 28-year-old outfielder is out of options heading into the 2024 season, and given the A's need for improvement around the diamond, there's a pretty high likelihood that he makes the club out of spring training for at least a look at what he can provide for the green and gold.
Given the A's number of options they'd like to check out in the outfield, he may begin the year in a platoon situation, with Adujar playing against left-handers and Seth Brown getting the ABs against the righties. That would leave Esteury Ruiz and JJ Bleday to man center and right, and potentially leave Lawrence Butler in Triple-A. Oakland would also have Brent Rooker available for outfield duties, though he could see a decent amount of playing time out of the DH spot.
Andujar has struggled since his rookie season in 2018 when he launched 27 homers in 149 games for the New York Yankees while hitting .297, driving in 92, and accumulating 3.2 fWAR. Last season with Pittsburgh was the first season he's had above league average since that rookie campaign.
Playing on Andjuar's Winter League team are some familiar names to A's fans. First up, there's current Oakland A Dany Jiménez, who has struck out (and walked) eight batters in 5 1/3 innings en route to a 3.38 ERA. He has also only allowed three hits. Luis Barrera, who was in the A's system through the 2022 season, is batting .222 with a .328 OBP in 23 games played.
Finally, there's Jacob Nottingham, who may not sound familiar to A's fans because he never actually played in Oakland. Instead, he was acquired from the Houston Astros in the Scott Kazmir trade back in 2015 along with Daniel Mengden. Nottingham played in 60 games for the A's in the lower minors and hit above .300, which led him to be the main trade piece needed to land Khris Davis from the Milwaukee Brewers.
Davis went on to hit .247 and slug 40+ homers over the next three seasons while the A's rebuilt the roster, and provided them with a big power bat while Matt Chapman and Matt Olson acclimated to the big leagues.