Alex Verdugo ready for 'fresh start' with Yankees

NEW YORK --Alex Verdugo complied with the New York Yankees' rule against facial hair by a lot more than a whisker. He clipped off his red beard two months before spring training.

"My mom loves it," he said Thursday, showing off his impeccably shaved face during a Zoom news conference. "My mom thinks I look like her little boy again. She says I look like I'm back in high school."

New York acquired the 27-year-old outfielder from the Boston Red Sox on Dec. 5 for right-handers Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice, part of an offseason makeover that included getting slugging All-Star Juan Soto in a trade with San Diego the following day.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner issued a code in 1976 banning facial hair, lengthy locks that dropped below the collar and long sideburns. Once Verdugo was dealt to New York, he felt razor focused to conform.

"It was kind of bothering me, man. That was the biggest thing going to the Yankees, you have to be clean shaven," he said. "I haven't been clean shaven since high school and even then, I would have some stuff on my chin, some things like that. It was just kind of eating at me. And I was like, you know what, I don't even know how I look without a beard. I want to cut it up, see how it feels. And then also, I wanted to - since you have to keep up the shaving. I wanted to see like how my skin would react to constantly shaving and keeping it clean."

Verdugo had liked the beard for warmth.

"It feels like a fresh start," he said. "I feel like a kid again."

Speaking from his home in Arizona, Verdugo said he has been working out in a Yankees cap. He wore No. 27 with Boston, a number held by Giancarlo Stanton in New York. Verdugo said he'll wait until he gets a new pendant to reveal his new jersey.

He hit .264 with 13 homers, 54 RBI and a .745 OPS this year in his fourth season with the Red Sox. A Gold Glove finalist, he had 12 outfield assists and nine defensive runs saved.

New York manager Aaron Boone thinks the left-handed-hitting Verdugo could benefit from Yankee Stadium's short porch.

"I think there's more in there," Boone said. "I don't necessarily think he's reached his potential. So hopefully this environment for him and obviously entering the last year before free agency, there's a lot carrots out there."

Verdugo bristled when he first learned of the trade.

"I was hot. I was just like, man, they really me sent to rivals, the Yankees?" he said.

Verdugo was benched twice last season by Boston manager Alex Cora: on June 8 for not hustling between first and second on a grounder a night earlier, and on Aug. 5 for arriving late at the ballpark.

"It toughens me up and it makes me realize some things," Verdugo said. "I'm not too sure 100% what it was. It could also be you're struggling on a baseball team. It's just there's a lot of expectations and when you're not really meeting them, you kind of start bumping heads a little bit."

He complimented Boone for defending his players, citing the profane 2019 rant at umpire Brennan Miller in which the manager praised his team as "savages."

"That's something I want to see out of my head coach, man. I want to see some fire, some fight for the guys," Verdugo said. "I think just instead of airing people out, have their backs."

Verdugo said veterans reached out to him during difficult days in Boston.

"I want to prove maybe a lot of these he said, she said things wrong," he said. "We're all people, man. We're all humans. And, yeah, we make mistakes, but how do we learn from it and how do we bounce back from it and how how much stronger do we get from that?"

His visits to the Bronx as an opponent did not go smoothly. In July 2021, Verdugo was struck on the back by a baseball thrown from Yankee Stadium's left-field stands.

"It's part of that rivalry," he said. "The mindset in New York, how people talk - they're a little bit more aggressive and they're kind of straight to the point. I like that, man. I enjoy it. And I think when they see me play every day and they see me bust my butt and work hard, I think they'll like what they see."