*Photo from the Athletic*
Get excited Red Sox fans, Alex Verdugo is 100 percent healthy. Verdugo, who was the main piece in the trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers, revealed on a conference call with reporters Monday that he is fully recovered from his back injury and will be ready to play when MLB announces a start date for the season. This news, combined with the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic worldwide, suddenly makes the trade that sent Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong to Boston look a lot better from the Boston side of things.
Verdugo said during the call that "Physically I’m 100%, I feel very good just moving around with everything: my swing, my throwing, running. I feel really good. The complex shut down for three weeks when the whole coronavirus and all that started coming out. So I still stayed active at home. I was hitting, throwing a little bit and working out. But obviously didn’t have the amount of resources I do at the facility.I feel like we’re back on track, people are throwing to me in the cage and we’re taking BP. The extra time has given me more time to get my endurance up. Whenever the season starts, I think I’ll be ready, whether that is soon, whether it’s a few months down the road or whatever that may be. I think physically I’m ready."
Verdugo has missed games dating back to August 2019 because of a stress fracture in his back, which made it hard for Verdugo to move, bend over, and even go to sleep. The Red Sox announced that he would miss opening day a few days after they acquired him back in February, before everything was thrown for a loop. There was still concern about his progress as recently as April 14, but Verdugo said that the injury is no longer an issue and that he'll be ready for the season, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.
Before the stress fracture ended his season in August, Verdugo was in the midst of a productive first full season in the majors with the Dodgers. Verdugo hit .294 with 12 homers and 44 RBI with 4 stolen bases in 106 games, with an OPS of .817 and slugging percentage of .475 in 2019. Verdugo is expected to be the everyday right fielder in Boston, with Jackie Bradley Jr in center, and Andrew Benintendi in left, with Kevin Pillar as the 4th outfielder when any of the guys need a day off.
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