Alex Verdugo's New York Yankees career could not have gotten off to much of a better start. After being acquired in an offseason trade with the Boston Red Sox, the 28-year-old was swinging such a hot bat to the point where he was hitting cleanup behind Juan Soto and Aaron Judge with regularity and was consistently driving in clutch runs.
His personality even seemed to be a perfect fit in the city and with his teammates.
Unfortunately, months later, it's safe to say that the honeymoon period is over. Verdugo is hitting just .217 with a .598 OPS since May 1. In fact, his 69 WRC+ is the fourth-worst mark among qualified AL hitters since the start of May. He's hitting just .161 with a .453 OPS in July. He now has one hit in his last 24 at-bats after going 0-for-4 in Sunday's loss. Things are only getting worse for Verdugo.
Everyone wants answers. Verdugo never lived up to expectations after being an integral piece of the Mookie Betts trade, but he had always been at least a league-average hitter if not slightly above average. He's slashing .231/.287/.371 this season in 96 games played. This kind of slump is unprecedented for him.
Judging by what Verdugo had to say after his disappointing showing on Sunday, he's no closer to finding the answers than anyone else.
Verdugo thinks going opposite field more will help him turn his season back in the right direction. I suppose that opinion makes sense given the amount of ground balls he has hit to the right side, especially of late. The problem is, Verdugo has statistically never gone to the opposite field more than he has this season, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic points out.
According to FanGraphs, Verdugo has used the opposite field 28.2 percent of the time he has put the ball into play. He only had a higher percentage in 2017 when he appeared in 15 games for the Dodgers (and hit .174 with a .544 OPS).
As Kirschner notes, Verdugo's analysis makes no sense. Left-handed hitters have had much more success when they pull the ball around the majors. Left-handed hitters at Yankee Stadium obviously have more success pulling the ball with the short porch less than 320 feet away. Why does he think Yankees fans constantly beg for left-handed pull hitters?
Considering the fact that he has used the opposite field more than ever and is having his worst offensive season as a result, shouldn't he try to change his approach? Perhaps if Verdugo tried pulling more balls in the air he'd have more success. For reference, Juan Soto is pulling the ball way more this season than ever, and his 184 WRC+ is the second-best mark of his career.
Nobody expects Verdugo to be Soto, but Verdugo hasn't even been Verdugo, which is super frustrating for an offense that needs more from the surrounding pieces. He might be able to contribute down the stretch if he can do the exact opposite of what he thinks he should be doing.
