Jaison Andujar dreams of following famous father's footsteps to professional baseball

Jaison Andujar is following in the footsteps of his famous father, but he’s also carving out his own path and personality.

The Springfield Lucky Horseshoes’ 24-year-old outfielder from the Dominican Republic fields a lot of questions — especially locally — from fans who remember his dad, Joaquin Andujar, who was the Game 7 winner for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

“Jaison is his own person,” said Horseshoes manager Brad Gyorkos, who also coaches Andujar at Culver-Stockton College. “Obviously, his dad did some really cool stuff, but at the end of the day, we let Jaison be Jaison.

“If he wants to talk about it, then we’ll talk about it; if he doesn’t, then we won’t. We treat Jaison like Jaison Andujar and we love Jaison for who he is. It’s a cool thing that his dad did some really good stuff, but Jaison’s doing some really good stuff, too, and I don’t want that to get lost, either.”

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Getting better each season

This is Andujar’s third season in the Prospect League. The first two, also with Gyorkos playing for the Quincy Gems, saw Andujar in limited time batting .224 and .302. Through Wednesday with Springfield, he’s raised his batting average to .335 (55-for-164) with eight doubles, three triples, four home runs, 42 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

“Obviously, I want to be one of the best players in the Prospect League,” Andujar said. “It could be possible ... I never like to settle; I always like to go for more. For example, if I’m hitting .300, the next week, I’ve got to hit .320, then when I get to .320, .350. In baseball, it’s never just enough: you can always do more.”

Gyorkos said as Andujar has grown more comfortable in his surroundings, he’s continued to improve.

“He started leaving the yard more often,” Gyorkos said. “I think early on, he was a big doubles, singles guy and now he’s leaving the yard, he’s hitting more triples, he’s stealing more bases – I’m not going to call him fast, but ...”

Andujar interrupted, “He doesn’t want to admit that I’m fast, but OK.”

Gyorkos and Andujar then erupted in laughter.

“He told me, if I’m able to steal 25 bases in the summer, then I have a green light in the spring and I can just run without him telling me,” Andujar said. “I’m close, I’ve got (20).”

Lessons from his father

Joaquin Andujar was a four-time MLB All-Star in 13 seasons with St. Louis, Houston and Oakland and had a career record of 127-118 with a 3.58 ERA. In the 1982 World Series, he went 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and threw seven innings in Game 7 to clinch the Cardinals’ ninth championship.

Jaison Andujar spent much of his early life in the Dominican Republic but moved to Long Island when he was 12. He returned to the Dominican Republic in 2015 to spend more time with his father. Three months later, his dad died after battling diabetes . After that, he went back to New York to live with his mother.

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Andujar was accustomed to living with celebrity baseball players, including his father.

“It’s pretty much the same as in St. Louis, where everybody pretty much knows (Joaquin Andujar),” he said. “Everybody reminds me about him all the time when they see my last name. “Oh, I know this pitcher who played in the MLB, he was really famous,’ and I’m like, ‘I know, that’s my dad.’ That happens a lot. In my country, it happened a lot too.

“I also surrounded myself with a lot of professional players, like Pedro Martinez and Robinson Cano: we all come from the same town (San Pedro de Macorís). I got to spend a lot of time and learn a lot from them.”

Martinez pitched 18 seasons, won a World Series title with the Boston Red Sox (2004) and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. Cano played 17 seasons in the big leagues, including nine with the New York Yankees.

“Robinson Cano knew me since I was born, literally,” Andujar said. “I have pictures of him holding me when I was little. I always try to imitate him and everything. He’s my favorite hitter, personally. They’re just regular people.”

Andujar, who has a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine and is pursuing a master’s in business, said his dad’s biggest point of emphasis for his children was education.

“My education was really important (to his dad),” Andujar said. “In my country, kids, honestly, they only play baseball; they don’t usually go to school. It’s baseball or nothing. It was the same way with (his dad), he didn’t go to school.

“For him, me going to school was the most important thing, so I never stopped going to school. All my friends in the Dominican Republic, they didn’t go to school; it was just baseball. I had to put education first and then baseball.”

Professional ball is Andujar’s preferred path, but when his playing days are over, he said he’d like to coach.

Gyorkos said he’s seen qualities that will make Andujar succeed in that path, as well.

“I think he has the leadership qualities that it takes,” Gyorkos said. “Sometimes it’s hard to stand up to people that are your friends or colleagues and he’s good at stuff like that.

“He’s been in it for a long time, he knows a lot about baseball, so that always helps. To coach, you’ve got to know everything, so if that’s something he wants to do, he’s going to have to dip his toes into infield play, outfield play, into catching play: it’s the whole thing. But I do think he’d be well-suited for it.”

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com , Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Jaison Andujar dreams of following famous father's footsteps to professional baseball