Alex Verdugo an option for Padres in LF for 2025?

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San Diego needs a new left fielder for the upcoming season. This free agent could be a possible fit to man the outfield with Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. on Opening Day.

With Spring Training on the horizon, the Padres remain with quite a few holes to fill on their Major League roster.

It got even more difficult to do so Thursday, as Robert Murray of Fansided broke the news that Jurickson Profar agreed to a three-year, $42 million contract with the Atlanta Braves. Profar, 31, is coming off a career year in 2024, and over the span of his four-and-a-half-year tenure with the Padres. He became one of the organization’s most valuable and influential players.

It’s uncertain where the Padres will turn to fill the gap left by Profar, but if there was ever a time to finally dabble into the free agent market this offseason, A.J. Preller could turn to lefty-bat, Alex Verdugo to be the team’s starting left fielder in 2025. Verdugo, 28, is coming off an average season with the New York Yankees, in which he was a piece of their 2024 American League pennant-winning roster. In 149 games played last season, he slashed .233/.291/.356, hitting 13 homers and driving in 61 RBI.

His defense in the outfield remained gold glove caliber. He was a finalist among AL outfielders for the award in left field. According to Baseball Savant, Verdugo ranks in the 76th percentile in Range (OAA), 96th percentile in Arm Value, and 94th percentile in Arm Strength.

In terms of his hitting prowess, San Diego’s ballpark dimensions might actually benefit a hitter like Verdugo.

His Adjusted Expected Home Runs by Park totaled 16 at Petco Park as compared to the actual 13 homers he hit at Yankee Stadium, according to Baseball Savant. Over the course of his Major League career, he has demonstrated the ability to pull the ball for power and use outfield gaps to his advantage. However, it would be beneficial for him to decrease his ground rate, which stood at 48.6%, and increase his line-drive rate, which stood at 25.0% in 2024.

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Perhaps the most startling difference between Jurickson Profar and whoever the Padres end up replacing him with will be the plate discipline that Profar brought to whatever part of the lineup he was batting from. Verdugo had an elite start to his Yankees tenure by showing extreme patience at the plate. Through his first 32 games in 2024, Verdugo accumulated a 23.7% chase rate, which resulted in a 9.1% strikeout rate, which was the fourth lowest among qualified hitters at the time. In that span, he also ranked in the top 25 in walk rate, walking at a 12.9% clip.

In addition, it might be of some help that Verdugo, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Manny Machado are all under the MVP Sports Group umbrella. ESPN’s Jeff Passan recently stated in an article that Verdugo might be staring at signing a one-year prove-it deal that is cost-effective. He and the Padres could line up on a team-friendly deal for 2025.

Adding Verdugo to an outfield already consisting of Tatis Jr. and Merrill would perhaps make it one of the best trios in the National League. All three players are capable of posting gaudy defensive numbers and making a difference at the plate. As San Diego’s quest to add talent continues, it’s still all quiet on the western front in America’s Finest City.

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