After Quiet Winter, Former Yankee Alex Verdugo Settles For One-Year Deal With Atlanta Braves

A year ago, Alex Verdugo was approaching his first season with the New York Yankees and a few weeks into his tenure, he was helping them race out of the gates quickly to the AL East lead.

He also was contributing a new lexicon in the Yankee verbiage, describing his new team as “dogs or dawgs”. It was a new kind of swagger for a team and it was noticeable as they sped out to a 10-2 start, which became 45-19 before the Yankees sputtered for about a month.

Verdugo was acquired in one of those rare trades between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox. At the time of his acquisition, it was believed to be a one-year pairing since he was entering his final season before hitting free agency. That belief may have been centered around the idea Verdugo might get a better deal than the one-year $1.5 million contract he settled on with the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.

Verdugo took the deal for his age-29 season after reportedly not getting any major league offers. He is joining a team hoping Jurickson Profar and Jarred Kelenic will man the corner spots. Kelenic, who has yet to consistently hit, batted .231 last season, is struggling in spring training and still has minor league options, thus creating a lane for Vedugo to get increased playing time.

As of now, he’s a depth piece and some insurance who will get at-bats in Triple-A to compensate for missed time in spring training. It also is a strong possibility Ronald Acuna Jr. is ready to return from his torn left ACL by the time Verdugo has taken enough at-bats.

“He’s a big-league player,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters before the Yankees opposed the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday “Braves got a really good player for not a lot of money.”

The perception Verdugo would be getting a better deal than his new contract was likely based on how he entered last season as a .281 career hitter, whose 108 doubles were among the highest in the American League over the previous three seasons.

Early on, Verdugo looked the part as he made $8.7 million from the Yankees. His time with the Yankees saw him hit .266 over his first 69 games when he produced nine homers and 41 RBIs to go along with a .319 on-base percentage. A little over three months later when he ended the regular season by getting the go-ahead hit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on a rainy afternoon, Verdugo was wrapping up a season where he hit a career-worst .233 with a .647 OPS and finished with three homers, 28 doubles and 61 RBIs while playing 149 games.

He also produced a career-low .291 on-base percentage and various advanced stats did not look at him favorably such as his hard-hit rate of 34.9 percent or his strikeout rate to go along with a 49.6 percent ground rate often resulting in soft grounders to second base.

Last season’s rough showing over the final three months dropped his career average to .272 over 800 regular-season games. It was a steep decline from his seven previous seasons when his batting averages ranged between .264 and .308.

Verdugo wound up appearing in every postseason game, mostly because of his defense was superior to Jasson Dominguez and being versatile enough to effectively play all three outfield spots helps his cause. Dominguez was a novice left fielder and still is but the Yankees were not ready to turn left field over to the prospect in the high-pressure stakes of the postseason.

While Verdugo was 10-for-48 in the postseason, he also saved Game 1 of the Division Series with his defense and contributed two hits, including the go-ahead single in the seventh and two runs in a game with five lead changes.

After Verdugo made the final out of the World Series against current Red Sox starter Walker Buehler, it was apparent he was not going to be back and the Yankees never made an offer.

Now Verdugo is getting his chance with the Braves on an apparent prove-it deal and it will be interesting to see how much time he winds up seeing and if it can lead to better things for future contracts.