Alex Verdugo went 1-for-4 in Tuesday’s start for the Yankees, dropping his season OPS to .645 as his brief stretch of hot hitting seems to be a thing of the past.
The struggling left fielder got the start over Jasson Dominguez, who the Yanks said would not be called up from the minors until there was an everyday role for the top prospect. That doesn’t seem to be the case so far, as Dominguez has sat four games already since being promoted, but Chris McMonigle is hoping that trend is going to end come playoff time.
“Here’s my only explanation…I think they believed that Verdugo could get hot…they were waiting for him to turn it on,” C-Mac said.
“I felt like last night, Verdugo was in the lineup because he’s not gonna play much moving forward. They want to get a last look at him to see if he’s gonna make the postseason roster over [Trent] Grisham. I hope that’s the case.”
If that isn’t the case, then C-Mac says he is simply out of answers as to why Verdugo continues to get playing time as the playoffs draw closer.
“There is no reason any longer to play Verdugo,” C-Mac said.
“I don’t know why they continue to do it.
“It’s been about playing the best player. And while he had a three-week stretch of hitting .300, he’s cooled off again. The plain and simple truth of it is that his ceiling is nowhere near as high as Jasson Dominguez.”