Alex Verdugo Refutes Notion He’s Replacing Mookie Betts After Big Game Vs. Blue Jays
Don’t tell Alex Verdugo he’s replacing Mookie Betts.
He wasn’t buying that notion back in February, and he still wasn’t buying it on August 7th.
Verdugo on Friday had his first big moment(s) with the Boston Red Sox, launching a pair of homers while robbing a would-be dinger in their 5-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
After the game, he was asked a few questions about why he’s fared so well amid the pressure that comes from being Betts’ replacement.
Below is the full transcript of the exchanges.
Reporter: Alex, you’re replacing a guy — Mookie Betts — in right field. Why hasn’t that seemed to have affected you at all?
Verdugo: “Because I’m not replacing him, you know what I mean? Yeah he played here, but this is a game, this is a business. He decided to go elsewhere. I’m not replacing him. That’s what you guys say, that’s what everybody else says. I’m going out there and playing right field, I’m playing my game. I don’t think about Mookie. I think he’s a great player, he did a lot for Boston, he’s going to do a lot for the Dodgers, but I think about me being here and what I’m going to do and what I’m going to bring to this team. So it’s not a comparable thing, I don’t like comparing it, I don’t like when people bring it up, but obviously the nature of the trade, it’s going to happen. People are going to say it, but I’m going to play my game, I’m going to go out there and compete and bring the energy that I bring. That’s how I’ve always been and don’t care about shoes to fill, anything like that. I’m playing my game.”
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Reporter: Not comparing you as a player, but in point of fact he was the right fielder last year and you’re the right fielder this year.
Verdugo: “I’m a left fielder, right fielder, yeah, I play both.”
Reporter: Yeah, but you play mostly right field though. But what is it about your personality that that hasn’t mattered to you?
Verdugo: “Because I don’t see it like that. It’s just different. I guess, like I said, you guys see me going into right field replacing Mookie. I don’t see it like that. I see I’m playing right field for Boston. That’s it. Just another team, another organization, gotta go out there, gotta compete and do what you do. Same way he’s doing it over there, we’ve got to do it over here.”
Reporter: Does that make it easier for you to perform?
Verdugo: “I don’t think it has any deciding factor if I do bad or good. Baseball is up and downs. You have hot streaks, you have cold streaks. It’s like everything, gotta be able to control yourself, control your emotions and everything like that and just have a solid approach and go out there and compete. That’s really it, you’re going to win some and you’re going to lose some.”
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Reporter (a different one): Alex, has the Mookie thing actively bothered you since you’ve been here?
Verdugo: “No, not at all. Doesn’t bother me, it’s just one of those things that I think it’s weird that so many, like the media or fans, everybody wants to bring it up like it’s such a big deal. It’s like, to me I don’t think of it like that. Like I said, he’s not here, I don’t know, I’m not replacing him. Yeah, I was part of the trade, like whatever, like we’re out there playing games, man. We’re competing, I don’t think about it, I don’t know what people want me to say, I do, because I don’t. Do I watch him, do I watch baseball around the league? Yes, I watch everything, I love baseball, I love watching it. But to go out there and to feel some type of pressure or to feel some type of way about myself like I need to show something, I need to hit homers or rob homers all the time to fill this void that Mookie left, no, I don’t have that. My job is to get on base, try to make this game a little bit easier for the guys coming up behind me and in front of me.”