Why Yankees’ Miguel Andujar has gone from red hot to struggle city

Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar has cooled down significantly since his blistering start. Manager Aaron Boone diagnoses why.

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NEW YORK — Miguel Andujar wasn’t going to look like prime Manny Ramirez forever.

At some point, he’d struggle, the way any player might, particularly a 23-year-old in his first extended big-league look.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone thinks he knows what’s up with Andujar at the plate. He talked about it before Friday’s game against the A’s at Yankee Stadium, the start of their three-game set.

Part of it, Boone said, is that teams are “pitching him a little tougher.”

It’s also that his violent swing, with all its moving parts — from the Gary Sheffield-like bat wave to the hitch in his hands to his leg kick — has gotten a bit funky,” Boone said.

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“I think there is some of the ebb and flow of a season of hitting and those things are going to kind of happen,” the manager said. “I think Miggy — without getting too wonky with it — when he’s in sync with how he loads with his bat and everything, when that’s on point, he’s electric offensively.

“So I think sometimes maybe that gets a little out of whack. What I’ve seen though, through this, when he’s not on fire like he was or hitting all the extra base hits, I’m still seeing a lot of really competitive at-bats. I’m seeing him with still the ability to lay off pitches outside the zone that they’re trying to get him to chase as a young player, making that adjustment to him.”

Andujar has seen his batting average drop from .300 through his first 20 games to .271, or a 29-point fall, come Friday. Over his last 10 games, he’s hit .211 with a .441 OPS — no extra-base hits.

After hitting three homers from April 17 through April 23, he’s hit none.

Since going 2-for-5 vs. the Indians on Saturday, he’s got three hits in 18 at-bats.

Andujar became the Yankees’ starting third baseman when Brandon Drury hit the disabled list April 6 with headaches and blurred vision, the result of a tendon issue in his neck. Drury’s 20-day minor-league rehab assignment is set to end Tuesday, but Boone was non-committal when asked if he could be healthy enough to return to the majors by then.

“I like the compete and the adjustability (Andujar) seems to be making when it’s not necessarily clicking,” Boone said. “He’s having competitive at-bats, so that gives me hope that when it does click back in, there will be another stretch where he starts to drive it.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.