Why Yankees’ Brandon Drury isn’t worried Miguel Andujar is stealing his job

Yankees third baseman Brandon Drury played in his 11th minor-league rehab game on Monday, May 7, 2018 (5/7/18) in Trenton, N.J., but says he’s still experiencing blurry vision at times.

Watch video

TRENTON — Yankees VP of baseball operations Tim Naehring was in the stands Monday night at Arm & Hammer Park watching Brandon Drury have a pretty decent showing playing third base in a rehab game for the Trenton Thunder.

Earlier, the Brian Cashman right-hand man was on the field watching Drury take batting practice and then in manager Jay Bell’s office, presumably for an update.

From the mouth of Yankees GM Brian Cashman in a WFAN radio interview Monday afternoon, Drury will be off the disabled list “sooner rather than later,” and that’s a little surprising even though his 1-for-3 showing against Reading with a bloop single, walk and two strikeouts a few hours later was a continuation of on-field success that he’s had in 11 rehab games since April 25, the first eight with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and then three in three days with the Double-A Thunder.

Gleyber’s ‘heartbeat’ showed he was ready to Yankees’ farm leader

What Drury told NJ Advance Media in a pre-game interview seemed to be an indication that his return from a years-long issue wasn’t imminent.

On the disabled list a full month as of Monday, Drury admitted that he’s still dealing with blurry vision and severe migraines, and he predicted that “it’ll take some time” before he’s ready to rejoin the Yankees.

How much time?

Drury offered a blank stare when he was asked that question.

He then was asked if it could take weeks or months.

“I’m not sure,” Drury responded.

A .359 hitter in his rehab games, Drury has made a lot of off-the-field progress in the last month after years of doctor visits leading to no cure and no good answer as to what was causing his issues. He now knows that he has a nerve issue in his neck that is being dealt with through medication plus “ultra-type things and stem work” treatment that occur in three to four weekly doctor visits in New York.

“It’s better, but it’s not where I want it to be yet to feel like I’m a hundred percent ready to go,” Drury said. “I still battle with it. Some days are better than others. I feel like I’ve had more good days than bad days recently, but right now I’ve got to keep my priority the treatment and get this thing right.

“I still get blurry vision sometimes just when I’m walking around or watching TV, and in baseball you need your eyes.”

And that’s why Drury has spent no time in the last month wondering and/or worrying about losing his starting job to rookie Miguel Andujar, who has been one of baseball’s best rookies since getting an early season call-up from Triple-A.

Asked about Andujar, Drury gave an answer that sounded cliche, but considering what he’s been through – what he’s still going through – it was believable.

“Honestly … I’m being a hundred percent honest, I’ve been dealing with this for so long that I’m a hundred percent focused on getting myself right and healthy just to go play baseball,” Drury said. “Truly, I just want to go out there and react to the ball with instincts and not have the blurry vision and all the other stuff blocking me.”

A .267 hitter with 13 homers last season as a starting second baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Drury, 25, was traded to the Yankees early into spring training to be a starter at third, his natural spot. After the deal, Cashman boasted that Drury could be a lot better than he’d been in his two full seasons with Arizona, and Drury responded with a good season-opening series in Toronto, going 5-for-13 with a homer and four RBIs.

Ten hitless at-bats and five days later, Drury was pulled from a game against Baltimore due to a severe migraine and blurry vision, issues that caught Yankees management completely by caught surprise because it had no idea this was a current problem let alone one that’s been around for years.

One of the Yankees’ top prospects, Andujar was called up after Opening Day to do some DHing due to center fielder Aaron Hicks going on the DL, and a week later the 23-year-old Dominican was starting at third due to need. A slow start by Andujar led into an extended hot streak and then consistent production, and through Monday he was hitting .274 with 12 doubles, a triple, three homers and 13 RBIs in 27 games.

Drury has noticed.

“Of course,” he said. “I watch the games or check out the highlights. I know everything that’s going on. Andujar is young, but he’s a good player. You can see it right now.”

Drury is amazed how well the Yankees are playing. After starting out 9-9, the Yankees are on a 15-1 run heading into a series against the Boston Red Sox that begins Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

“We all knew that we were capable of doing that while we were struggling early, but 15 out of 16 is pretty ridiculous,” Drury said.

Drury wishes he was contributing to the success. 

“Obviously it’s a weird situation with the team playing so well, but I’m really not thinking of that right now,” he said. “If I can get this vision problem fixed, I want to believe good things are going to happen.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.