WASHINGTON — As brutal as the last two months have been for Alex Verdugo, Monday offered a reminder of the player the Yankees believe he can be — and need him to be down the stretch if he is going to keep starting in left field.
The highlight was making a terrific catch on the warning track before sacrificing his body and slamming into the wall, which he came out of well enough to be back in the lineup on Tuesday.
Verdugo added three hits in the series opener against the Nationals, all of them against left-handers and two of them going the opposite way with his bat-to-ball skills on display.
It marked Verdugo’s second straight multi-hit effort, which came on the heels of going deep on Saturday for the first time since July 6.
Now the challenge is parlaying that momentum into truly finding his groove over the final month of the season going into October.
“He can be such an impact player for us,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday before a 4-2 loss to the Nationals. “I don’t care who you are — rookie, veteran — you go through it and you go through some struggles, you go through a tough stretch, it wears [on you]. The grind is real. So a couple months there where he’s grinded through it.
“To get some traction, especially all the work you put into it, pour in behind the scenes trying to unlock yourself and get it rolling to get some results, it’s good for the soul.”
The timing of Verdugo’s potential turnaround is important.
Rosters are set to expand on Sunday, and fans have been clamoring for Jasson Dominguez to be called up from Triple-A to take over in left field.
But GM Brian Cashman said recently that there was no “lane” for Dominguez to play with the current outfield healthy — echoing what the team has said since the top prospect got healthy from Tommy John surgery and an oblique strain — and there have been no indications that the Yankees would give up on Verdugo to hand Dominguez a chance at starting everyday over the last month of the season.
For that to remain the case, Verdugo needs to produce.
After going 1-for-4 Tuesday — with a line drive tracked down in the gap for an out and a smoothly turned double play by the Nationals that killed a seventh-inning rally — he was 7-for-15 with a home run and a walk over his last four games.
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But in 54 games before that from June 15 to Aug. 23, Verdugo hit just .178 with a .500 OPS, one home run and 41 strikeouts.
His OPS during that stretch was the worst among 161 qualified hitters while his batting average was the second-worst (trailing only Cubs third baseman Isaac Paredes).
“I’m definitely feeling better,” Verdugo said. “Definitely putting better swings on and staying within myself a little bit more. It’s just, keep it going and try not to get too ahead of myself and look for damage or anything like that. Just keep taking what the pitchers are giving me.”
Gleyber Torres has supplanted Verdugo as the regular leadoff hitter and doesn’t look like he’ll be giving it up anytime soon.
But Verdugo could still play an important role in lengthening the lineup at the bottom, as he did on Monday to help turn it over consistently.
Within the clubhouse, Verdugo has big supporters in Aaron Judge and Boone, who had both been trying to get him on the team before he was acquired from the Red Sox last offseason.
Judge loved how he was a gamer, which showed up on Monday night by running into the wall, and how he came up big in clutch spots, which the Yankees need to see more of as the games get more important down the stretch.
“Part of it [is] he’s finally finding some holes,” Boone said. “I feel like Dugie’s been a real tough-luck guy, really all year. … I feel like he’s having good, competitive at-bats, which is the biggest thing. But really good to see him get results because we know what a good hitter he can be.”
