Free Agent Profile: Alex Verdugo, OF

Alex Verdugo

Position: OF B/T: L/L

Age: 28 (05/15/1996)

2024 Traditional Stats: 621 PA, .233/.291/.356/.647, 13 HR, 61 RBI,
2024 Advanced Stats: 83 wRC+, 15.0 SO%, 7.9 BB%, .253 BABIP, .304 xwOBA, 0.6 fWAR

Rundown

Alex Verdugo, 28, was originally a Los Angeles Dodgers 2nd round pick back in 2014, coming out of Sahuaro High School (AZ), Verdugo would make his MLB Debut in 2017 with the Dodgers, he would bounce between the minors and the bigs, then in 2019, he received 377 PAs.

He would be part of one of the biggest deals in recent history that sent him, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong to the Red Sox, and Mookie Betts, David Price, and Cash considerations to the Dodgers.

Verdugo’s Red Sox career was solid, he was an everyday outfielder for the organization, digging more into the stats he posted a 105 OPS+ over that time which is just above league average. The Red Sox would later trade him again last offseason to their rival, the Yankees, in exchange for Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice.

Last year was a significant down year for Verdugo, As you can see above, he posted an 83 wRC+ which is way below his career average, the xwOBA also wasn’t too hot as it was just barely over .300 (for reference the MLB average was .315 this past year). His underlying metrics were all over the place, with solid percentiles in Squared-Up%, Chase%, Whiff%, and K%. But on the other hand, his batted ball metrics were not so hot. His glove was solid this past year posting 2 OAA and coming in at the 96th in arm value.

Contract

Verdugo’s value likely took a major hit after a big down year in the Bronx, and is profiling as platoon/4th outfielder. Sportskeeda is predicting a 2-year $19 million dollar ($9.5M AAV) deal for the 28-year-old outfielder who is looking to have a bounce-back year with a new team.

Recommendation

Even though the Mets’ outfield room is crowded, adding  Verdugo who can provide a league-average to just above league-average bat with solid glove would not be the worst thing in the world. If the Mets were to sign Juan Soto I don’t think there would be any room left for Verdugo, so I would look at this as a depth add if the Mets swing and miss on Soto.

The post Free Agent Profile: Alex Verdugo, OF appeared first on Metsmerized Online.