Alex Cora’s message on the finish of final season was loud and clear: Alex Verdugo wanted to be higher in 2023.
Thus far, Verdugo has responded to his supervisor’s call-out in the easiest way doable, thriving in all aspects of the sport and solidifying himself as one in all Boston’s most impactful gamers.
Let’s begin with the floor numbers. Verdugo entered Friday slashing .338/.407/.481 with two house runs and eight RBIs by way of 20 video games (86 plate appearances). He leads the workforce with 26 hits and has the best wRC+ (149) amongst Boston’s six certified place gamers.
The superior analytics help Verdugo’s offensive breakout, too. His anticipated batting common (xBA) ranks within the 98th percentile throughout Main League Baseball. He’s making onerous contact extra persistently — evident by his common exit velocity, max exit velocity, hard-hit price and barrel price all monitoring nicely relative to final yr — and he’s exhibiting an improved method. Verdugo’s chase price (84th percentile) and whiff price (96th percentile) each can be career-best marks. Identical goes for his strikeout price (10.5%) and stroll price (9.3%).
Small pattern measurement? Certain. And it’s not like Verdugo hasn’t flashed elite offensive upside prior to now. However there’s little purpose to imagine, after a fast glimpse underneath the hood, that his present manufacturing isn’t principally sustainable. The actual distinction is it’s been a part of an even bigger package deal. Verdugo is popping right into a full participant, along with his baserunning and protection — two all-too-frequent bugaboos — catching as much as his potential within the batter’s field.
“Yeah, he hit for common, however he is usually a lot higher baserunning, defensively,” Cora advised reporters final October, earlier than Boston’s closing recreation of the 2022 season. “He’s attending to that space in his profession that’s, ‘Who’s he gonna be?’ We talked about this with (Andrew Benintendi) just a few years in the past, proper? You see the participant he has change into. (Benintendi) has change into a greater defender, hitter. I believe Verdugo has the possibility to hit for energy, hit for common, however he can affect the sport operating the bases and taking part in protection.”
Flash ahead, and Verdugo ranks ninth amongst 186 certified gamers in FanGraphs’ BsR, an all-encompassing baserunning metric that “turns stolen bases, caught stealings, and different base operating performs (taking further bases, being thrown out on the bases, and many others) into runs above and under common.” He’s sandwiched between Ronald Acuña Jr. and Christian Yelich, whereas final season Verdugo ranked 82nd out of 130, one notch above Crimson Sox teammate Rafael Devers.