He’s excited to get a “new start” with the Yankees.
When it came to the New York Yankees’ rule against having facial hair, Alex Verdugo stuck to it by a long shot. He shaved off his red beard two months before it got warm outside.
His face was perfectly shaved during a Zoom news conference on Thursday. “My mom loves it,” he said. “Mom says I look like her small boy again.” “I feel like I’m back in high school,” she says.
New York got the 27-year-old outfielder to the Boston Red Sox on December 5 in exchange for right-handers Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts, or Nicholas Judice.
This was part of a winter makeover that also included trading for All-Star Juan Soto the next day.
In 1976, Yankees proprietor George Steinbrenner put out a code that said people couldn’t have long beards, facial hair, or hair that fell below the collar. As soon as Verdugo was sent to New York, he was determined to fit in.
It was making me feel bad, man. “The most important thing about going to the Yankees was that you had to be neatly shave,” he said.
“I haven’t shaved clean since high school, and even then I would have stuff on my chin and other places.”
I need to cut it up and feel how it feels. Also, I wanted to because you need to keep shaving. I was interested in how my face would react to shaving and cleaning it all the time.
The catcher said from his home at Arizona that he has been working out while wearing a Yankees cap.
The number 27 shirt that Verdugo wore for Boston is being held by Giancarlo Stanton in New York. Verdugo said he won’t show off his new shirt until he gets a new pendant.
This was his fourth season for the Red Sox. He hit.264 with 13 home runs, 54 RBI, and an.745 OPS. He was in the running for the Gold Glove and had 12 outfield assists and 9 defense runs saved.
Aaron Boone, the manager of the New York Yankees, thinks that Verdugo’s left-handed hitting might do better on the short porch at Yankee Stadium. That thing was just getting to me. I thought, “What the heck?” I have no idea how I look without a beard.
Boone said, “I think there’s further in there.” “I’m not sure if he’s reached his full ability. So hopefully this is a good place for him to be, and since he’s almost at the end of his contract year, there are lots of opportunities out there.
Last season, Verdugo was taken out of the game twice by Boston manager Alex Cora. The first time was on June 8 for not hustling within the first and second innings on a grounder the night before, and the second time was on August 5 for getting to the ballpark late.
“It toughens me up, and it makes my realize some things,” he said. “I’m not sure what it was for sure.”
You might also be having a hard time on a baseball team. I guess it’s because people have high hopes, and when you don’t live up to them, you start to run into problems.
Alex Verdugo talked to the media for the first time since being traded from the Boston Red Sox with the New York Yankees. He showed off a clean-shaven face.
There were tough questions about his time with the Red Sox, his play, and even how he felt about the move. In his first brief availability with the team, Verdugo answered them all.
The 27-year-old outfielder is facing the last year in his rookie contract, so this will be a big year for him. He knows he needs to do well this season to get a multi-year deal.
Verdugo said it took himself about a day to calm down. During that time, he thought about how bad his stats were and how Boston finished last in the American League East.
When Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, and Anthony Rizzo, Verdugo’s new teammates, sent him words of welcome, he was ready to start the next chapter.
Verdugo, who is 27 years old, wants to clear up some of the rumors that have been going around about him since he left Boston.
He is referring to the rules that manager Alex Cora put in place for him last season. Verdugo was taken out of the game twice: on June 8 for not working hard at the plate and on August 5 for being late to a home game.