Former Boston Red Sox OF historically underperforming against archrival

During the offseason, the Boston Red Sox traded outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees, leaving fans wondering why the team would decide to team up with its arch-enemy.

What’s more, Verdugo was entering his contract year, so he was expected to play extremely hard and motivated, causing the Red Sox to fare badly.

It just didn’t happen. Verdugo had one of the worst seasons of any player in Yankees history over the last 30 years, according to @JayHayKid of the “Baseball is Dead” podcast:

Alex Verdugo’s current 82 OPS+ in 2024 would be the second-lowest of any Yankees OF player in the Wild Card era who has received at least 550 PA this season, trailing only 39-year-old Ichiro Suzuki in 2013 (77 OPS+ in 555 PA).

The 28-year-old Arizona native is batting .235 with 11 home runs, 56 RBIs. He has a .293 on-base percentage and a .652 OPS. In fact, he has an OPS+ of 83, as that note was posted before Wednesday’s game.

Verdugo actually put up similar offensive numbers to what he did in Boston, as he never hit more than 13 homeruns with the Red Sox and never had more than 74 RBIs. However, his batting average in Boston (.281) was significantly higher than in New York.

The Yankees enter play Thursday with a record of 80-60 and 0.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. The Red Sox are 70-70 and 5.5 games out of the third and final wild-card spot, tied with the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.

Continue to follow our Fastball On SI coverage on social media, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @FastballFN.