ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo plans to work on his pitching this offseason in hopes of becoming a two-way player by 2023.
Verdugo pitched in high school. He was considered a draft prospect as both a pitcher and position player coming out of Sahuaro High in Tucson, Ariz. The Dodgers drafted him in the second round as an outfielder.
“I don’t know if I’ll pitch next year but definitely by 2023 I want to try to just be a two-way,” Verdugo said before Game 2 of the ALDS here at Tropicana Field. “Not a (Shohei) Ohtani where he is starting and all that. I just want to be a reliever. Come in, help the boys out, something like that. But obviously I know I got a ways to go. And my thing was give me a year or so to build up my arm strength, long toss and all that, make sure the arm can handle the hard throws. And, hey, a couple blowout games, let me go out there and pitch. If my stuff is good, if I’m getting swing-and-miss, why not run with it? If it’s flat, average and I’m not getting the job done, then, hey, at least I said I tried it.”
Verdugo said he last pitched in high school and topped out at 97 mph.
“So I feel like that’s still in there,” he said. “I just got to build up again and get back on a throwing program.”
Verdugo said he ideally would sit in the low-to-mid 90s.
“Then if I’ve got to reach back angry or something, we can get that (97 mph),” Verdugo said. “But I had a curveball, slider, and then I also threw a knuckle curve. So that would be my repertoire. I would have to play around. I don’t think the curveball would be as good just because I lost some of the sticky (stuff).
“If they’re willing to give me an opportunity to do that, I would love to do that,” he added. “The competitor in me just try to maximize what I can do for the team. And like I said, if pitching is a realistic thing, I’m going to pursue it and try to do both.”
The Red Sox don’t sound very willing to give him the opportunity.
“He said that this offseason he might go to Driveline and work on his pitching again because he feels he can throw 97, 98,” manager Alex Cora said. “I guess he used to do that and become a two-way player. We’re like, ‘No, you’re not doing that. You’re actually getting better physically and you have to take care of yourself and be ready for spring training.’”
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