Yankees Notebook: Alex Verdugo scratched before Yankees’ spring training game vs. Tigers
The Yankees scratched Alex Verdugo from Sunday’s lineup with a left leg contusion, a day after the outfielder was hit by a pitch.
Verdugo was originally set to bat sixth and play left field in Sunday’s spring training game against the Detroit Tigers, but the Yankees released an updated lineup about three hours before first pitch at Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The move was “precautionary,” YES Network reported during Sunday’s game broadcast.
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Cole Irvin plunked Verdugo during the first inning of Saturday’s exhibition in Sarasota, Fla., but Verdugo remained in the game. Verdugo went 0-for-2 before being lifted with the other regulars before the bottom of the sixth inning.
Brandon Lockridge, a 2018 fifth-round pick by the Yankees, replaced Verdugo in Sunday’s lineup as the left fielder while batting seventh, with catcher Austin Wells sliding up one spot in the order.
Acquired in December in a rare trade with the rival Boston Red Sox, the 27-year-old Verdugo is poised to begin the season as the primary left fielder in a rebuilt Yankees outfield that also added Juan Soto over the offseason. Soto is expected to primarily play right field, with Aaron Judge sliding over to center field, as was the case in Sunday’s lineup.
A career .281 hitter, the lefty-swinging Verdugo brings contact hitting and balance to a Yankees offense that was overwhelmingly right-handed in 2023 and finished with a .227 batting average that ranked 29th among the 30 MLB teams.
“I can kind of be wherever in the lineup,” Verdugo said during an introductory Zoom call in December. “I could be at the top of the lineup to work at-bats, see pitches, get on base. I could be in the middle of the lineup for when some of the guys are on base. I can shoot a hole. I can hit a gapper. Every once in a while I run into one where it will leave the park, but I just feel like my bat-to-ball skill is a really good thing.”
Verdugo, like Soto, is set to become a free agent after the 2024 season. Verdugo has one hit in eight at-bats over four games this spring.
The Yankees also navigated injuries this spring to infielder Oswald Peraza, who hasn’t played since being scratched with right shoulder tightness on Feb. 27, and catcher Jose Trevino, who is yet to appear in a game as he deals with a left calf strain.
Center fielder Jasson Dominguez (elbow surgery), reliever Lou Trivino (elbow surgery) and reliever Scott Effross (elbow and back surgeries) are each expected to return during the season.
ROSTER MOVES
The Yankees optioned right-handed pitchers Luis Gil and Yoendrys Gómez to Triple-A and re-assigned fellow righties Chase Hampton and Art Warren to minor-league camp Sunday in a flurry of roster moves.
Hampton, Gil and Gomez represent young organizational depth for a Yankees team that traded seven pitchers over the offseason to acquire Verdugo and Soto and lost three more in the Rule 5 Draft.
The 22-year-old Hampton is among the Yankees’ top prospects. He, Gil and Gomez each appeared in one game at the big-league camp this spring.
The Yankees also sent catchers Ben Rice and Josh Breaux, along with pitcher Joey Gerber, to minor-league camp and outrighted infielder Jordan Groshans to Triple-A. The Yankees had designated Groshans, a 2018 first-round pick by the Toronto Blue Jays, for assignment last week.
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