Alex Verdugo facing Alek Manoah for first time after calling out Blue Jays pitcher for disrespecting opponents
BOSTON -- In many ways, the sport of baseball has adapted to the modern era. One major change the sport has undergone in recent years is that it's come to accept and allow certain levels of celebration from players on the field.
Instead of getting plunked with a fastball for admiring a home run, pitchers have learned to simply deal with an exuberant opponent. On the flip side, over-the-top reactions from pitchers after recording big strikeouts to end innings have become more commonplace as well. It's all part of the new game.
Still, while players have come to embrace the removal of some unwritten rules, there are still some lines that some players feel should not be crossed. And Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo spoke about one such offender earlier this season.
"If it's a genuine reaction and it's for the boys, not directed towards somebody, then yeah [it's fine]. Like I'll say it right now, I think Alek Manoah goes about it the wrong way, 100 percent I think he does," Verdugo said in April on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast. "You can find videos of him, footage of him in Triple-A going like this to hitters. Last year, telling Franchy [Cordero] and Bobby [Dalbec] like go sit, s--t like that and looking right at them. So it's like, s--t like that just pisses me off. It's not the way it should be played. It should be played like you're celebrating it with your team, you're not f------g disrespecting another player who is -- at the end of the day we're just trying to compete, that's it."
On Wednesday night at Fenway Park, Verdugo will dig into the box against Manoah for the first time since making those comments. Ahead of that meeting, Verdugo expressed some regret for saying what he did in public.
"I regret saying what I did, at least to the media, because it's something I think I should have just man-to-man said it to him," Verdugo said, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. "I feel like at some point now, I would like to have a conversation with him. I'd like to talk to him. Just me and him. Kind of clear out some air, just be professional about it."
Verdugo added: "I'm not going in there being like, 'Oh, man, we've got this beef going.' Because at the end of the day, I want to have a one on one and I want to talk to him and just kind of clear the air on my side. If he wants to accept it, then we accept it. If not, then we can continue doing what we are. I ain't got nothing against him as a person. It's just more some of the antics that I've seen against us that have rubbed me the wrong way."
Verdugo vowed that he won't be trying to "get emotional with it" when he steps into the batter's box, and that he doesn't anticipate being targeted with any fastballs to the ribs.
Yet whether the comments lead to some comeuppance, or if the situation just leads to some captivating at-bats, Verdugo's plate appearances against Manoah figure to be compelling entertainment for everyone tuning in to Wednesday night's game.
