Miguel Andujar has seen a career resurgence during his time with the Athletics. In 98 games with the A's, dating back to last season, Andujar is hitting .294 with a .721 OPS and a 109 OPS+ (100 being the average). Additionally, in the span, consisting of 385 at-bats, Andujar has hit 24 extra base hits, driven in 41 runs, walked 18 times, and struck out 53 times.
Specifically, this season, Andujar is hitting .325 with a .805 OPS and 11 RBI. Since the call-up of Nick Kurtz which pushed Tyler Soderstrom moving to left field full-time, Andujar has moved into a bench role most days.
Where Andujar has been the most effective for the A's is with runners in scoring position. In those situations, Andujar is hitting .450 with an OPS of 1.128 and 10 RBI. With this success, it has given A's manager, Mark Kotsay, a valuable bat to use off the bench when needed.
However, the 30-year-old outfielder will be an unrestricted free agent this winter, leaving questions about his future with the team beyond this season.
The A's have quite a few outfield prospects working their way to the bigs, with Colby Thomas (No. 2) and Denzel Clarke (No. 5) the closest to being "MLB ready". Either of them could be called up at any point, as they both have been impressive with Triple-A Las Vegas.
Thomas has tore it up since his promotion to Las Vegas last June. In 102 Triple-A games, Thomas is hitting .280 with an OPS of .895, 22 home runs, 32 doubles, and 67 RBI. The 24-year-old has massive raw power and a good glove in the outfield; the only knock on Thomas is his strikeout and walk rates being below average during his Triple-A tenure.
For Clarke, this season is his first time in Triple-A because of injuries he has battled. In fact, he missed time this season due to injury. However, in only 17 games, Clarke has shown why he is a top-five prospect in the A's system.
He is hitting .291 with a .923 OPS and eight extra-base hits. Arguably, the most impressive stat about Clarke so far is his walk-to-strikeout ratio, he currently has 12 walks and 15 strikeouts on the season.
Given that both Thomas and Clarke are playing well and are closer than ever before to making their MLB debuts, the A's may look to trade Andujar this summer. He's a solid bat that can help out a team with true World Series aspirations.
Andujar has proved with the A's that he can be effective in either a starting or bench role. He may be a popular name around the trade deadline if he continues to play like he is right now. The question for the A's will be whether the returns they're being offered are worth more than his value to the team the rest of the way.
The A's offense has been a borderline top-five unit to start this season, but the pitching has been inconsistent. The A's could look to move Andujar for either a starter or reliever to boost their pitching staff and continue to compete in an AL West that is wide open.
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