Boston Red Sox: What makes Alex Verdugo a candidate to hit .400

An MLB writer has named Boston Red Sox newcomer Alex Verdugo as one of 12 candidates to hit .400 in the upcoming 60-game season.

While Boston Red Sox fans are still trying to get over the blockbuster deal that sent superstar outfielder Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the central player he was traded for is being grouped in some pretty elite company.

That’s right, Alex Verdugo is being mentioned in the same breath as players like Jose Altuve, Cody Bellinger, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon.

In a list compiled by MLB.com, the new Red Sox outfielder was named as one of twelve candidates who will have a chance to hit .400 in the upcoming 60-game season and here is the

reason why as explained by MLB.com writer Sarah Langs:

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"“A .400 chase certainly might make Boston fans feel a bit better about the Mookie Betts trade. Verdugo is up there with some very elite hitters in terms of strikeout rate. With 377 plate appearances of 2019, he struck out just 13 percent of the time, 19th-lowest among 241 players with at least 350 plate appearances. More evidence of his elite contact skills lies in his 90th-percentile, 16 percent whiff rate last year. As already noted, making consistent contact and avoiding strikeouts are two keys to this quest, so he’s in good shape there.”"

For a player whose highest batting average so far in his career has been .294, it seems like a far reach that Alex Verdugo would be the Red Sox player chosen over players like J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, but as a contact hitter with something to prove, he is certainly a player to watch, especially given the fact that those Red Sox players mentioned will be supporting him in the lineup.

If he is in the leadoff spot, he will get pitches to hit and that would give him an opportunity to obtain a high batting average.

In a shortened season and playing in a new league where opposing pitchers don’t know much about him, Verdugo will have a change to get off to a hot start and maintain it in a shortened 60-game season.

As a player who I feel has a chance to really shine in this modified season, hitting for a high average and showing some pop would definitely win Alex Verdugo over with fans.

No one can expect him to make fans forget Mookie Betts, but at least the trade becomes more justified in that the Boston Red Sox would get a player with a high ceiling who could ultimately do a lot of the things Betts did.

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So, while putting him in the same categories as players like Trout, Bellinger and Altuve may seem unfair, it wouldn’t be unthinkable if a new setting helps launch a player with the talent of Verdugo into stardom…even if it ends up being in a shortened 60-game season.

At least it gives Boston Red Sox fans something to look forward to and watch in an already crazy 2020 MLB season.

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