Yankees Defend Embattled Star’s Bad ‘Look’ Despite Lack of Hustle

Getty Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo

In any possible light, the season put forth by Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo, his first in pinstripes, has been a massive disappointment. But on Wednesday night in the fifth inning of a loss to the Rangers, he did himself no favors by failing to run out a groundball to second base, as he meekly jogged while an out was recorded and the Yankees trailed, 5-0.

The Yankees went on to lose, for the sixth time in eight games, 10-6.

Broadcaster Michael Kay highlighted the lack of hustle on the YES Network broadcast, saying, “One thing, I don’t know if there’s something wrong with Verdugo’s legs, he’s not running to first.”

After the game, manager Aaron Boone defended Verdugo’s loafing. According to the New York Post, Boone said:

“He’s OK. He’s beat up. He’s playing his ass off. He picks his spots to where — when he needs to, he beats out the force play, beats out a double play, gets the infield hit.

“Sometimes I wish it would look a little better on certain ones but when he hits the one-hopper to the second baseman and he’s got it, I get the look. But I don’t have any issue with how hard he’s playing the game.”

Alex Verdugo Has Hit Better Lately

Essentially, Boone is saying that Verdugo hustles when he needs to and that while it might “look” bad to have him lightly jog on some plays, Boone is OK with it. As The Post pointed out, it was not OK with Boone when second baseman Gleyber Torres did much the same thing one month ago and was pulled from a loss to the Blue Jays.

It does not help that there is a groundswell of anti-Verdugo sentiment among Yankees backers these days, especially those who want to see outfielder Jasson Dominguez called up from Triple A Scranton-Wilkes Barre to take over left field. Verdugo is batting just .235 on the season, a career worst, with an OPS of .652, also a career worst.

It does not seem to matter much that Verdugo has caught fire lately, with hits in 10 of his last 11 games and a .342 average in that stretch. He has raised his batting average nine points in that time. It also does not matter that in a one-game stint with the Yankees in August, Dominguez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

There is some cause for the Yankees to be nervous about entrusting left field to Dominguez and sinking Verdugo’s confidence heading into the playoffs. But most Yankees observers would rather take their chances with Dominguez, who is batting .302 with an OPS of .830 in Triple A this year.

Yankees Now 40-41 Over Last Half-Season

The bigger concern for the Yankees is that the team has flatlined now for a significant stretch of the season, and that’s not all on Verdugo. Over the past 81 games—exactly half a season—the Yankees are 40-41, a record that would not have them near the playoff hunt if it had not been for their hot start early in the year.

Boone said the year has to be taken as a whole.

“You have to have perspective,” Boone said, via The Athletic. “We’re right there with every opportunity to reach our hopes and dreams. That’s because of the season we’ve had as a whole. We’ve put ourselves in position to go grab this thing but if we want to grab it, we got to play our best ball and put our best foot forward here with 22 to go.”