Miguel Andujar’s labrum tear could end his season

Miguel Andujar’s season may be over before it even really started.

The Yankees third baseman has a small tear of the labrum in his right shoulder and was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday night. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team is hopeful he can return, but season-ending surgery has not been ruled out.

“It’s a small labrum tear,” Boone said after the Yankee’s 3-1 win over the Tigers. “So, we’re going to treat it conservatively for a couple weeks and see how it responds to it. Then, at that point make a decision, which surgery could be in play which would obviously compromise his season. There is some optimism, though, that he would respond to the kind of rehab protocol.”

The injury was the second blow the Yankees suffered Monday, losing outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to the IL earlier in the day with a Grade 1 strain in his left biceps. With Stanton, the Yankees are optimistic the slugger can return this month.The prognosis on Andujar sounds potentially much more serious. He suffered the injury in Sunday’s loss to the Orioles when he dove back to third base as he tried to avoid getting picked off. Andujar remained in the game and threw between innings, something that Boone said is an encouraging sign. But on Monday the Yankees sent him for an MRI that showed the tear.

“His physical test with the doctor is actually really good,” Boone said. “So, there is some optimism that if treated conservatively he can respond and come back and play. But we’ll know that in a couple of weeks.”

The Yankees called up Clint Frazier and Tyler Wade to take the open roster spots. Frazier will get “a lot” of work in the outfield, Boone said, and DJ LeMahieu will take over for Andjuar at third.

The Andujar and Stanton injuries add to an already long list of players on the shelf for the Yankees. They now have an MLB-high nine players on the IL, as the Yankees look more like the Mets these days.

They join Aaron Hicks (back), Luis Severino (shoulder) and Dellin Betances (shoulder) as key Yankees to suffer early injuries. The Yankees are also missing Didi Gregorius, who is rehabbing from offseason Tommy John surgery, and CC Sabathia, who is rehabbing from knee surgery.

Andujar is 3-for-13 this season with an RBI and two strikeouts. He is coming off a monster 2018 when he came in second in the voting for AL Rookie of the Year. He had 27 home runs and 92 RBIs in his first full season.

Stanton’s injury also came in Sunday’s game. He did it on what Boone described as a “funky swing” early in the game.

The plan is to shut Stanton down for 10 days and then reevaluate the injury. Stanton played left field and batted third for the Yankees in all three games against the Orioles to open the season. He is 2-for-8 with seven walks.

In his second season with the Yankees, Stanton was frustrated to find out he was not going to play for a while.

“I don’t like it at all,” Stanton said. “I just worked for six weeks to get here, plus the offseason. I’d much rather this would have popped in in spring training but this is where we’re at. I don’t have to start from scratch when I come back, but just have to build everything up and make sure everything’s ready to go when I’m back.”