TORONTO — That dive to third base that Miguel Andujar made to avoid being picked off in an opening-weekend Yankees game eventually ended his season.

Following a badly failed comeback that didn’t last long, his May 20 surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing arm potentially ended his time as a Yankees third baseman for good, too.

It may even have been his last game as a Yankee.

Word is the Yankees shopped Andujar hard last winter and again this summer even though he’s hurt with his stock as a hitter very high and infield play low.

And now with Gio Urshela taking over at third base and setting the baseball on fire hitting .323 with 15 homers, 59 RBI and a .934 OPS in 94 games while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense all season long, it’s hard to imagine Andujar returning to third base as a heathy player next season.

There is another solution besides a trade, which still seems very possible in the offseason.

There are scouts who have been predicting for years that Andujar eventually will be a corner outfielder, and the Yankees could make the switch next spring training. If the Yanks don’t re-sign Brett Gardner, who is playing on a one-year deal and will turn 36 on Aug. 23, and they trade Triple-A outfielder Clint Frazier, who also was shopped this summer, then maybe they potentially could go into 2020 with Mike Tauchman and Andujar sharing the left field duties.

Are the Yankees already thinking about a position change for Andujar?

If they are, manager Aaron Boone didn’t admit it Thursday when he was asked that question.

“No, that’s down the road,” Boone answered Thursday before Urshela hit hit third and fourth homers in two days in a 12-6 Yankees win over the Toronto Blue Jays. “Those type of conversations, we haven’t even dove into it yet at all.”

Boone did say that he thinks Andujar easily could adjust to a new position.

“I think Miggy could do a lot of things on the field,” Boone said. “Obviously, he’s got a special bat and I think he does have the athleticism to do a lot of different things.”

Andujar, 24, probably was the Yankees’ most pleasant surprise of their 100-win 2018 season.

After not making the Yankees’ Opening Day roster, Andujar was called up in the first series of the season to DH after center fielder Aaron Hicks got hurt and he ended up taking over at third when early season starter Brandon Drury soon was injured, too.

Andujar went on to put up very good offensive numbers, hitting .297 with 27 homers and 92 RBI over 149 games. Defensively, his fundamentals and range were worse than his 15 errors and .948 fielding percentage indicated, and his play there was something the Yankees admitted all season was a work in progress.

This year, Andujar was 2-for-13 with one RBI at the plate when suffering a tear in his shoulder labrum in the Yankees’ third game of the season. Surgery was talked about right away, but Andujar initially attempted to avoid it and returned 34 days later. But after going 2-for-7 in his first two games back, he was 1-for-27 over his next seven before being shut down again.

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Three days later, the Yankees announced on a Wednesday that Andujar would have season-ending surgery the following Monday.

Eleven weeks post-surgery, Andujar still is early into his long recovery, but it should be over before the start of 2020 spring training.

“He’s making progress,” Boone said. “He’s doing pretty well. It’s going to plan. But obviously it’s going to take some time with that shoulder. The hope is that he can have a fairly normal offseason and be ready to go once spring training starts. I feel like he’s on that track.”

Where that track will lead – left field for the Yankees or playing for another club? – is to be determined.

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.