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SEATTLE — For a couple of reasons, no player on the Red Sox was happier to see the calendar flip from July to August than Alex Verdugo.
July was a month when Verdugo’s bat essentially went to sleep, as evidenced by a slash line of .151/.232/.247 with two homers and seven RBIs.
And as the month came to a close, Verdugo heard his name in various trade rumors and woke up on Tuesday wondering if he would need a change-of-address form by the 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline.
Hours after Verdugo learned for sure he was staying put, he celebrated with a two-run homer that helped lead the Red Sox to a 6-4 win over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Verdugo’s Sox are just 1 1/2 games back in the American League Wild Card standings.
August already feels better to Verdugo than July.
“Obviously, there’s no secret my July was tough,” Verdugo said. “I was going through a lot. I feel like physically and mentally I was just kind of grinding in certain areas and pressing when I shouldn’t have been. So to slow down some stuff and feel like I’m just more relaxed in the box, I’m kind of just timing up the ball a lot better. So it feels good.”
What gave Verdugo the realization he needed to slow it down?
“When you hit a buck in a month, you’ve got to switch up, right?” Verdugo said.
Verdugo came to the Red Sox in a February 2020 trade along with catcher Connor Wong in the deal that sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers.
Feeling like he has unfinished business with the Red Sox, Verdugo had no desire to be on the move again three years later.
“You hear some things and you never know what to believe, right? Anybody can report something. And it could be false. It could be right,” Verdugo said. “So you just don’t know. So for me, it was just a little bit of a weird time. I like Boston. I wanted to stay here and I want to continue playing here. So just to kind of know that I’m staying here, and know that it’s kind of a restart of the season, feels good.”
Many players talk in clichés about Trade Deadline rumors. However, Verdugo gave some insight into his emotions these last few days.
“When you don’t have any communication [from the front office], you’re kind of left in the dark,” said Verdugo. “And so, it’s all up to your mind which way you want to take it. I know for me, I try to think about it from all aspects. You see both sides. So I think that’s what made it tough.
“I was seeing it from my side, ‘I want to stay here, I love playing here,’ and seeing it from their side, ‘It’s a business, try to get what you can’ and things like that. Your mind takes it wherever you want, but I think at the end of the day, the best way to handle it is trying to block it out. Go have fun and just go play the game.”
Verdugo is a difference-maker when he’s going right.
“He’s been moving better the last two days offensively,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Seems like he’s staying behind the ball, which is good. He got a good pitch to hit, a 2-0 count, and hit the ball in the air. So that’s a good sign. That’s good.”
For the first three months of the season, Verdugo was one of Boston’s most consistent players. He had a sturdy .301 average and an .836 OPS when he showed up to the ballpark on July 1.
Those numbers are down to .271 and .772, respectively. But Verdugo has the confidence he can get his groove back for the rest of the year.
“It’s one bad month,” Verdugo said. “Really, just chalk it at that. It’s one bad month and I can go out and [hit] .300 for the next two months and be right back to where I was before this slump.”
And there will be no more trade rumors to cloud his head.
“It’s like a refresher, and it feels like it’s kind of like a jumpstart,” said Verdugo. “Like, hey, I’m back on here, they want me, this is our team, this is our squad. And just for me, just go out there and compete and play hard, you just go back to the things that made me valuable to the team.”