MLB trade rumors: Is Yankees’ Miguel Andujar’s defense that bad?

Yankees manager Aaron Boone talks rookie third baseman Miguel Andujar’s defense as Manny Machado trade rumors swirl at Progressive Field on Friday.

CLEVELAND — While rookie Miguel Andujar‘s bat has proven potent and his defense often looks adequate enough, that might not be the whole story for the Yankees‘ third baseman.

His glove actually rates among the worst in the league, according to various advanced defensive metrics.

Fangraphs’ defensive stat ranks him 21st in the league out of qualified third baseman — or dead last. Same when it comes to UZR, or ultimate zone rating, which Fangraphs says tries to “quantify how many runs a player saved or gave up” defensively.

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Manager Aaron Boone said he hadn’t seen the defensive metrics in comparison to the rest of the league and that the Yankees use their own evaluating tools. He added he didn’t think the disparity between Andujar and the average defensive third baseman was that far off.

Here’s Boone’s full take on Andujar’s defense:

“I think in the end I still think he’s absolutely a work in progress and there’s so much more in there and he can get to being an above average third baseman defensively. I absolutely feel that way now, whereas I wasn’t sure about that in the winter. Now that I’ve seen him, I think what he’s done really well up here, especially as a guy taking a position for the first time, is handling the routine play. We’ve seen him make some great plays, too. He’s been pretty reliable, pretty automatic, which has been really nice, which frankly has allowed him to thrive and be an everyday player and swing the bat like he has. I think it’s continuing to work with him just as far as his setup, his footwork and all those things, because those are the things, once he gets good at those things, that will allow him to I think climb the ranks in that regard, as far as range goes and as well as continuing to make all the routine plays.”

Andujar has been working to improve his defense. Before most games, he spends between 10-15 minutes with infield coordinator Carlos Mendoza doing a routine aimed at helping him slow down and make routine plays.

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