Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo spent months awaiting his next big league opportunity this past offseason, and a series of unfortunate circumstances helped open the door for the 28-year-old with his new club.
The Atlanta Braves recalled Verdugo from Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday, per team announcement, before the start of their three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. Fellow outfielder Bryan De La Cruz was optioned to Triple-A to make roster room for Verdugo’s arrival.
With star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. out recovering from a torn ACL injury to begin the season, the Braves were well aware they’d need depth. The front office addressed that void by signing utility man Jurickson Profar to a three-year, $42 million contract — a decision that made sense at the time. But four games into Profar’s stint with the team, MLB caught and suspended the 32-year-old (80 games) for testing positive for chorionic gonadotropin, a performance-enhancing drug.
That meant two things: One, Profar won’t be back until his June 29 eligible return date, and two, Atlanta once again needed a role player to replace its initial role player. It wasn’t expected that Verdugo, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract during spring training, would get a chance so early, especially when he hadn’t earned it. Verdugo made nine appearances with the Triple-A squad, batting .207 with two home runs and four strikeouts across 29 at-bats before the big league club made the call.
It’s a massive turnaround from the state Verdugo appeared stuck in just a few months ago after the New York Yankees expressed zero interest in retaining the eight-year veteran. Verdugo’s World Series-ending strikeout in Game 5 signaled the official end to his Yankees stint, and only a few teams expressed (some) interest in taking a flier on him, including the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals.
Story continues below advertisement
But neither of the two franchises went the distance and reached an agreement with Verdugo, even though his former New York comrades advocated for him.
Everyone from Aaron Judge, to Marcus Stroman, to Anthony Volpe and Yankees manager Aaron Boone spoke highly of Verdugo when asked before Opening Day.
“Maybe a little bit surprised because he’s without question a big-league player and a big-league starting player, for me,” Boone said last month, per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “It just probably hasn’t lined up money-wise and team-wise and need-wise, but he was great with us.”
Boone continued: “I think he can really hit. That hasn’t changed. But he went into some struggles there in the middle of the season, but also I think there was some unluckiness there, too, where he had days where he was squaring the ball up a lot. I think he put together a lot of at-bats in the postseason for us and obviously was terrific in our left field. I think there’s more upside in there offensively, too.”
Story continues below advertisement
Verdugo made great strides defensively and earned himself a finalist position in last year’s left field race for the American League Gold Glove Award. However, it fell short and Verdugo’s subpar offensive output — he slashed .233/.291/.356 with 13 home runs and 61 RBIs — also wasn’t enough to generate a line of suitors once free agency rolled around. It was a humbling experience that, if anything, should motivate Verdugo more.
The Braves have presented him with a golden opportunity to do what he failed to do as a member of the Red Sox and Yankees: Break out. Verdugo hasn’t secured a multi-year contract and if he wants to convince teams to make that commitment next offseason, he’ll have to earn a much-needed rise in stock value.
