As Miguel Andujar embarks upon his first major league October — his sublime rookie regular season in the books — he’s set to get some more face time …
… the amount of which could be predicated on how often he uses FaceTime.
“What I love most is when I’ll speak with [Andujar and Gleyber Torres],” Alex Rodriguez told The Post. “They’ll FaceTime me 20 minutes before the games.”
As a special adviser for the Yankees, A-Rod, who will work as a studio commentator during Fox’s coverage of the baseball postseason, has latitude to speak with anyone on the Yankees’ roster, be it the big leagues or the minors. Last year, he bonded with Gary Sanchez, the polarizing catcher who publicly thanked the polarizing former third baseman/shortstop for his wisdom.
And while Rodriguez counts both Andujar and Torres among his charges, his obvious ties with Andujar put the spotlight on that relationship in particular.
“[Andujar] is a third baseman. He’s Dominican,” said A-Rod, whose Dominican Republic-born parents moved him from New York back to the Dominican when he was a boy. “The fact that he is so thirsty for help.”
Miguel AndujarUPI“It means a lot to have a guy like [A-Rod],” Andujar said through an interpreter. “He played so many years in the big leagues. He was such a good player for so long. It’s like a luxury to have a guy like that, someone who I can speak to and have around. … Anything that can help me.”
When the Yankees visited the Marlins for a two-day series in August, A-Rod, who still has a home in South Florida, worked on the field with Andujar, whose defensive struggles have prompted Aaron Boone to lift him late in games the Yankees are leading. With blessings and marching orders from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and Boone, the retired legend and the up-and-comer went to work.
“One thing he told me was about cutting down the game speed,” Andujar said. “If I’m doing a play in 6.5 seconds, cut it down to five. Be more economical with time. That’s something you have in your mind. You try to work on that, and you have to practice it.”
“I think he has the potential to be a very good big-league third baseman,” A-Rod said. “All great infielders have great footwork. That’s what we focused on. I’m careful with young players not to overwhelm them, but we spoke about footwork and cadence.
“My message to both Gleyber and Miggy was, ‘The more boring and uneventful you make it, the happier I would be.’ ”
Since then, The two have spoken “from time to time,” Andujar said. Moving from the regular season to the postseason, the defensive work and approach “should be the same,” said A-Rod, who experienced epic ups and downs during his 10 postseasons with the Yankees.
“There’s a paradigm shift,” Rordiguez said. “There’s a difference between thinking like a hitter and going to where hitting is a bonus. You can get a big hit here and there, but you cannot win at the major league level by giving teams 28, 29, 30 outs.”
For Andujar, who tied Fred Lynn’s American League rookie record of 47 doubles with a pair of two-baggers Sunday and finished with a .297/.328/.527 slash line, such an evolution would make him even more of a threat.
But it also would solidify A-Rod’s reputation — one that has withstood the test of much unrelated turbulence — as a bona fide baseball mentor.




