Miguel Andujar's crazy Reds stats have Cincinnati firmly in NL Wild Card playoff picture

Billy Heyen

Miguel Andujar's crazy Reds stats have Cincinnati firmly in NL Wild Card playoff picture image

The Cincinnati Reds are making a playoff push.

And there's one quite surprising figure doing a lot of the pushing: Miguel Andujar.

Andujar was an under-the-radar trade deadline acquisition by Cincinnati from the Athletics for minor leaguer Kenya Huggins.

And he doesn't play everyday for the Reds, usually either serving as the DH or a pinch-hitter.

But when he gets on the field for these Reds, Andujar rakes.

In 24 games, he's batting .371 with a 1.024 OPS.

That includes six doubles, three home runs and 14 RBI.

The 30-year old was once a highly touted prospect for the New York Yankees. And for a time, he looked like he'd deliver on at least some of that hype in the Bronx.

Instead, he turned into a bit of a journeyman, first to the Pittsburgh Pirates, then to the A's, and now to the Reds.

Andujar crushes lefties, to the tune of a .387 average this season (although he's also at .291 in a larger sample against righties). He's a guy who could always swing it but didn't necessarily have a perfect defensive position between either third base or left field.

The Reds are letting Andujar just focus on his bat, and it's paying dividends.

Cincinnati enters Thursday at 74-72, just 2.0 games behind the New York Mets for the third and final wild card spot with 16 games to play.

A few more big Andujar swings could keep the Reds right in the hunt.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle