When he was called up to the Atlanta Braves on April 17, it was a second chance on baseball life for Alex Verdugo. After a frustrating year with the New York Yankees when he was paid $9.2 million for producing 13 home runs and a .647 OPS, Verdugo had an even more frustrating free agency.
The 2014 Los Angeles Dodgers second round draft pick did not receive a single offer from any team until the Atlanta Braves took a flyer on signing him for just $1.5 million with one week to go in spring training.
As if that wasn’t enough of a slight for the eight-year veteran, the Braves required him to accept a minor league assignment — which he had a right to refuse, but did not.
When he got the call from Atlanta, he did not disappoint. At first.
In his first 10 games he stroked 15 base hits, including five doubles, while striking out only three times, for an impressive .341 batting average and .850 OPS.
But May has been a whole different story completely. Verdugo’s production at the plate has plunged, and with 2023 National League MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. on the verge of coming back after missing every game since May 26, 2024, due to knee surgery, the Braves are now hearing calls to “pull the plug” on Verdugo’s Atlanta career.
“While the Braves certainly didn’t expect Verdugo to be hitting a career-high pace, the hope was that he’d be a league average bat, which would be leagues above what they were getting. Instead, the left fielder has provided the team with mostly negative production,” wrote Mitchell Barbee of the Fansided House Hank Built site.
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“Since his last four-hit game, Verdugo has slashed .219/.288/.260, good for a 56 wRC+. This wRC+ places him as the 13th-worst qualified hitter in baseball since April 28,” Barbee continued.
Put more simply, since the calendar turned to May, Verdugo has appeared in 17 games with just 13 hits and three doubles, for a .200 batting average and an anemic .500 OPS. He has not hit a home run in 30 games, going back to his final games with the Yankees last year.
“There’s really no contest for Verdugo being the obvious choice to cut ties with in order to make way for Acuña,” added another Fansided Braves scribe, Cody Williams.
Meanwhile, Acuña on his rehab assignment has simply been outclassing his minor-league competition. Between the Rookie League level FCL Braves and Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, Acuña has compiled a .400 batting average and an astronomical 1.524 OPS.
According to a Thursday report by Atlanta News First, Acuña was a healthy scratch from the Gwinnett lineup on Thursday, indicating that he is likely to be activated off the injured list Friday — potentially spelling the end for Verdugo in Atlanta.
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