5 hours Ago By NY Daily News
NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo knows his first season with the Yankees didn’t go as well as many had hoped. He’d like to get a shot at improvement. If not next season, then perhaps down the road.
An impending free agent, Verdugo discussed his future before Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday. With the Yankees facing the threat of elimination, he expressed a desire to return. “It’s been my favorite team I’ve ever played for.
I really do enjoy it,” Verdugo said. “Maybe one day we can come back. If it’s not next year, maybe it’s another year.
But I would like to come back and just show the type of player that I really am.” A strong defender in left, Verdugo endured the worst offensive season of his career, slashing .233/.
291/.356 with 28 doubles, 13 home runs, 61 RBI and an 83 wRC+. His poor numbers at the plate — Verdugo had a .
600 OPS after May 8 — and sometimes lackluster hustle made him a target for Yankees fans for much of the season. The Yankees gave top prospect Jasson Domínguez a shot in left field at the end of the season, but he proved to be a liability on defense throughout the audition. While Domínguez has been on the Yankees’ postseason rosters, he’s only been used as a pinch-runner.
Verdugo, meanwhile, has started all of the Yankees’ playoff games. Entering Game 5 of the World Series, he was slashing .200/.
280/.311 with one home run and seven RBI. Domínguez’s presence has led some to believe that there’s no room for Verdugo next season.
However, the Yankees have expressed strong confidence in Verdugo’s abilities, even if the numbers haven’t justified that belief. The team also clearly thinks Domínguez has work to do, especially if he ends up playing left instead of his natural position, center. If the Yankees re-sign Juan Soto — something they hope to do — left field could be the outfield position up for grabs.
If they don’t retain Soto, Aaron Judge could theoretically return to right while Domínguez handles center. Could such a scenario — or Domínguez’s general continued development — lead to a reunion with Verdugo? “I think at the end of the day, he’s a really good hitter,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s kind of a born hitter.
On balance we’ll look at this year and look at the numbers, a little bit of a down year by his standards. This guy can hit. “It’s baseball.
Sometimes great, good, mediocre, you’re going to struggle. Every year is a little bit different. He had a stretch where he struggled a little bit, but he can hit.
I feel like he’s had a lot of big at-bats for us here in the postseason and continued the outstanding defense.” Verdugo has been a league-average hitter throughout his career — the former Dodgers and Red Sox outfielder has a 101 wRC+ over eight seasons — but he called it a “bummer” to enter free agency after his worst offensive season. Still, he said hitting the open market is “exciting,” as the 28-year-old has never been a free agent.
“It will be a goal to work harder in the offseason and always try to get better,” said Verdugo, who cleaned up his diet toward the end of the regular season. That said, Verdugo made it clear that he was focused on winning his last guaranteed games with the Yankees. “I’m in the World Series,” Verdugo said.
“I feel really blessed I’m on this team playing for a winning organization and contributing. “Free agency, that will handle itself. At the end of the day, we focus on today.
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