HOUSTON — Standing in front of his locker Tuesday afternoon, Miguel Andujar held a bat in his right hand despite not being cleared to test his ailing right shoulder by swinging the wood.
“I like having a bat in my hand. It’s been a while and I don’t want to lose the feeling,’’ the injured Yankees third baseman said through a translator.
The Yankees have their fingers firmly crossed that Andujar’s rehab program for a shoulder strain progresses to the point where last year’s AL Rookie of the Year runner-up can swing a bat.
Wednesday will present a big test as to where Andujar’s season goes, since he is scheduled to play catch, which will serve as an indicator whether he can avoid what would be season-ending surgery. Since injuring the shoulder diving back into third base on March 31 the only baseball activity he has been cleared to do was to take ground balls in Baltimore.
“The next step is to play catch and see how it feels,’’ the 24-year-old Andujar said before the Yankees played the second of a three-game series against the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Though Andujar said he feels improvement with the shoulder, the bigger tests are throwing and then swinging.
“Much better since the day I got injured,’’ Andujar said when asked how his shoulder feels. “I am working hard and doing all the rehab work to make sure the shoulder is strong. I am following all the protocol and following every single step, but we have to wait to see how it feels going through the whole process.’’
When Andujar went on the injured list, the Yankees said they would re-examine him in two weeks. That would be Monday, a dark day on the Yankees’ schedule that could hold a lot of importance.
In the eight games Andujar has missed after Tuesday night’s 6-3 loss to the Astros, the Yankees started DJ LeMahieu five times at third and Gio Urshela there twice. Urshela was at third on Tuesday night against Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole. LeMahieu, a Gold Glove second baseman with the Rockies, has played well at third and is 7-for-18 (.389) in those five games. Urshela, who was in spring training on a minor league invite, is 2-for-10. Each player has made one error at third.
“Hopefully it’s a big step for him because that potentially could tell us a lot,’’ Aaron Boone said of Andujar performing the simple act of playing catch. “I don’t think they will stretch him out [Wednesday]. Hopefully we get encouraging news when he does go through that initial step of playing catch so we will see where we are at [Wednesday].’’
It’s very clear what the Yankees will hope for when they talk to Andujar after Wednesday’s exercise.
“The first thing is, can he withstand the throwing, what’s the pain tolerance?’’ Boone said. “Is he able to throw and be healthy? Can he make throws necessary to play the position he plays? Once we have that information we start to move on and hopefully graduate to something else.’’
The Yankees are 4-4 without Andujar.
As for Andujar returning as only a designated hitter because swinging might not bother him but throwing could, Boone held off on a definitive answer.
“We would have to look at what is best for him, what is best for us and assess the situation if we are in that kind of a scenario,’’ Boone said. “At the end of the day, if he can’t be a full-time player, we got to get him right and do what’s best for him. Let’s see where we are at this time [Wednesday].’’