Dodgers: Alex Verdugo’s Strange Month of June
Alex Verdugo had quite the month of June.
I do not know if I am alone in this, but I was scared that Dugie was about to go on a long negative regression period. He has not.
June 1-10
He started the month of June with some terrible numbers as seen here:
June 11-20
He was 102% below league average over the first third of the month. Yikes. Dugie got better as the month progressed, though:
That all changed in the second third of the month with Verdugo getting back to 22% above league average and the Verdugo we have come to expect with the healthy batting average and on-base percentage. The fantastic 10.8 K% is a great indicator of that success being sustained.
June 21-30
He even took it to another level to close out the month:
Verdugo was arguably the best hitter in baseball to end the month of June and inserted himself back into All-Star Game consideration.
Overall
Dugie continutes to be a welcome presence in the lineup and is key to the Dodgers for his ability to hit both left-handed pitching and right-handed pitching. For a rookie, he continues to be an advanced baseball player on both sides of the ball. He is among the league leaders and rookie leaders in wins above replacement as well as in the entirety of the league for defensive runs saved due to his elite center field defense.
I have been a Dodger fan since 1949. It is now 70 years since the days of Jackie Robinson, Roy “Campy” Campanella, Joe Black and those other great heros of the 1950s. I waited until 1955 when Sandy Amoros made that spectacular catch in right field against the darn Yankees. The announcers said that if it were a right-handed right fielder, he would never had made that catch. As it was, Sandy was the fastest player in the majors at that time! Thirty years later, Amoros’ leg had to be amputated. He was a victim of Pneumonia. Dodger fans all over the world can thank Sandy Amoros for his amazing catch in the six inning of the final seventh game of the World Series! Thank you Sandy! You saved us from a seventh loss to those Yankees to finally win one!! Red Barber was the announcer (later Vin Scully) and I became a sports fan in that year, 1949! Good days lay ahead for all of us : Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Wally Moon, etc etc!
Alex is great to watch. I didn’t like the move of Joc to 1B, but now see the bigger picture. Pollack will probably play LF or CF on return, Alex moves to the open OF spot, and you keep Jocs bat in lineup. Feel bad for Beaty though. Too many bats!! haha.
So with people coming off the IL, we must relegate Kike and Barnes to the bench at best (or find someone to trade/gave them to, especially Barnes….the poor guy is taking up space with guys like Beaty waiting.