Miguel Andujar experiment in leftfield is off to a good start for Yankees

TAMPA, Fla. — Given where the Yankees currently are with Miguel Andujar, it’s still a long way to being able to say with certainty that he’s a viable option in leftfield.

After spending the vast majority of his professional life at third base, he has played a total of three games in left — Grapefruit League games, at that.

But the experiment, which began early in the winter when Andujar started showing up at the club’s minor-league complex to get in some offseason work, has received even more attention of late with the sudden uncertainty surrounding Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.

Stanton is down for at least two weeks because of a Grade 1 right calf strain. Judge was slated for additional tests on his right shoulder/pec area on Monday, which has bothered him on and off for the better part of the last month and kept him from taking outdoor batting practice with his teammates. (As of late Monday afternoon, the Yankees had not released the results of those tests.)

The Yankees like what they’ve seen in leftfield from Andujar, who also has appeared in two games at third base and is expected to get some time at first base.

The reviews also have been positive from opposing team scouts assigned to the club for spring training. In a straw poll of a handful of them, none would say Andujar looks ready for a regular-season game there, but none would say the experiment is destined to fail, either.

“The first couple of days out there, you were like, ‘Nope, I’m not sure he’s going to have the range,’  ” one rival scout said. “But then [in that third game] he suddenly looked like he was getting better. With reps and obviously some improvement, I think he’s [potentially] viable there.”

Another rival talent evaluator noted Andujar’s well-earned reputation for being among the Yankees’ hardest workers.

“It shows,” the evaluator said. “The first couple [of games], nothing jumped out, then by Day 3 it was like ‘Holy hell, this guy’s gotten better, and it’s only been a few games out here.’  ”

Andujar, who turned 25 on Monday, had a breakthrough 2018, finishing second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .297 with 27 homers and 92 RBIs in 149 games. His 47 doubles set the Yankees’ single-season record (previously held by Joe DiMaggio, who hit 44 in 1936).

The power righty bat was enough to offset his struggles in the field, and Andujar went into 2019 locked in as the third baseman.

But he suffered a right labrum tear early last season and played in only 12 games.

That gave Gio Urshela an opportunity and he took it, seizing the starting job with his own breakout season and leaving the Yankees hunting for a way to keep Andujar’s bat in the lineup, whether it be at first, third or left.

Yankees first-base coach Reggie Willits, whose responsibilities include coaching the outfielders, said Andujar never hesitated when the subject of playing the outfield was broached.

“One, he really wants to do it and two, he’s worked really hard at it, so I think he’s going to get it,” Willits said. “Once you got him out there and we started to begin the process with him, it was pretty obvious he was kind of instinctual out there, so his moves to the ball just naturally were pretty good.”

From the start of spring training, Andujar said that whatever the team’s plans were for him, he was on board.

“I love having an opportunity to play and help the team,” he said through his interpreter. “At the end of the day, that’s what you want to do, you want to be able to help the team in any way possible. I’m honored to have the opportunity to be here, so any opportunity is going to be welcome.”