Alex Verdugo

BIOGRAPHY

Alexander Brady Verdugo was born on May 15, 1996, in Tucson, Arizona. He is an outfielder in the MLB.

Verdugo attended Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Arizona. The Los Angeles Dodgers selected Verdugo in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft. In 49 games for the Arizona League Dodgers, he hit .347 and was awarded with post-season Arizona League All-Star honors and Baseball America Rookie league all-star honors. He was assigned to the Class-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League to start 2015. He was selected to the post-season all-star team after he hit .295 in 101 games. Verdugo also received a late season promotion to the Advanced-Class A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League where he played in 23 games and hit .385. He also hit for the cycle in a game against the Lancaster JetHawks on August 27. He was named the organizations minor league player of the year.

To start the 2016 season, Verdugo was promoted to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League, where he was selected as a starter for the mid-season all-star game and named to the post-season all-star team. He had a .273 batting average in 126 games for the Drillers and hit 13 home runs with 63 RBI. He was assigned to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League at the conclusion of the season, and batted .140/.213/.233. Verdugo also played for the Mexico national baseball team in an exhibition series in Japan in November and in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He began 2017 with the Oklahoma City Dodgers and was named as a starter for the mid-season Pacific Coast League all-star team and chosen to represent the world team at the All-Star Futures Game. In 117 games for Oklahoma City, he hit .314.

Verdugo was promoted to the majors for the first time on September 1, 2017. He made his MLB debut as the starting center fielder that night against the San Diego Padres and was hitless in three at-bats with one walk. His first MLB hit was a single off of Clayton Richard of the Padres on September 2. He hit his first major league home run on September 10 off of Adam Ottavino of the Colorado Rockies. He played in 15 games for the Dodgers in 2017 and had four hits in 23 at-bats, batting .174/.240/.304.

In 2018 he was selected to represent the Pacific Coast League at the Triple-A All-Star Game and was also selected to the post-season all-star team. He appeared in 37 games for the Dodgers, hitting .260 while spending most of the season with Oklahoma City, where he hit .329.

On March 23, 2019, Verdugo was announced as a member of the 2019 Dodgers opening day roster. He appeared in 106 games for the Dodgers, with a .294 batting average, 12 home runs and 44 RBI. He played center field while A. J. Pollock was out with an injury but lost playing time when Pollock returned. Verdugo went on the injured list on August 6 with an oblique strain and later came down with a back injury during a rehab assignment. The injury kept him out the rest of the season and the playoffs.

On February 9, 2020, Verdugo was traded to the Boston Red Sox. During the start-delayed 2020 season, he was a regular corner outfielder for Boston, appearing in 22 games in left field and 31 games in right field. Overall with the 2020 Red Sox, Verdugo batted .308 with six home runs and 15 RBIs in 53 games.

Verdugo began the 2021 season as a regular member of Boston's outfield, playing all three positions.

Verdugo returned as a corner outfielder for Boston during 2022, appearing in 150 games in the outfield and two at designated hitter. He batted .280 with 11 home runs and 74 RBIs.

On January 13, 2023, the Red Sox and Verdugo reached agreement on a one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration.