If Alex Verdugo puts together a career season in 2023, Red Sox fans will have Alex Cora in part to thank.
Cora tried to set the tone for Verdugo's fourth season in Boston right as the outfielder's third campaign with the club ended. Back in October, the Red Sox manager was asked which player would need to take the biggest step forward in 2023, and without any hesitation, Cora identified Verdugo.
Last season wasn't a disaster for Verdugo by any stretch, but the body of work was beneath the standard you expect from a player with his abilities. The 26-year-old surely was already highly motivated to stage a bounce-back season, but the aforementioned remark from Cora clearly took him to a different level.
"I'm real about it. I don't like when people talk (expletive) about me," Verdugo told reporters Wednesday, per MassLive. "I don't like when people say anything about me in certain ways. But in his aspect, he wasn't saying it to bash me. He wasn't saying it out of spite. He was saying it because he truly believes that there's so much more and that he wants to figure out a way to spark it and to get it. I think he did.
"It was just that final straw, man. I was just tired of people always having something to say about me and it's like, you know what, (expletive) it. Let's handle what I can handle. Let's control what I can control and put in the work."
Verdugo's mission to turn things around begins Monday when the Red Sox hold their first full-squad workout of spring training in Fort Myers, Fla.
