Alex Verdugo’s Yankees Struggles (Likely) Result Of Weird Issue

New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo has undergone some recent struggles at the plate, which the 28-year-old discovered could be a direct result of an incredibly odd allergic reaction to the material used in his batting gloves.

“My hands hurt,” Verdugo said, per Randy Miller of NJ.com. “They blister. Then it opens and starts scabbing. It’s like super dry skin. I’ve been dealing with this since they started barking in ’21.”

Verdugo, who the Yankees acquired last offseason from the Red Sox, and was the centerpiece of Boston’s Mookie Betts blockbuster trade with the Dodgers four years ago, adapted to a new change in scenery in The Bronx. Limited to wearing one chain and a clean-shaved face, Verdugo’s leap across enemy lines from Boston to New York couldn’t help the eight-year veteran escape what’s become an ongoing issue. It’s even hindered Verdugo’s production at the plate to a noticeable extent.

The left-hander is batting .217 (10-for-46) with three doubles, three RBIs, five walks and seven strikeouts in 11 games so far in August. Overall, Verdugo’s in the midst of logging a mediocre debut campaign with the Yankees, hitting .237 — he hit .264 with the Red Sox in 2023 — with 10 home runs and 52 RBIs, proving to be New York’s weakest outfield link (by far) when playing alongside Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. However, even though Soto and Judge perform at a standard of their own, Verdugo — a career .274 hitter — hasn’t performed up to par for Yankees skipper Aaron Boone.

Medical professionals believe the two chemicals — cobalt and chromate — trigger an unexpected allergic reaction, presumably with Verdugo’s tattoo ink. This comes at an especially inconvenient time for the Yankees as New York is currently in the middle of a postseason race, sprinting alongside the Orioles in a battle for first place in the American League East with less than two months left to go.

“It’s rare, but not that rare,” Dr. Spencer Stein, a sports orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Health, explained, per Miller. “Allergies to cobalt chrome or cobalt chromium are metal allergies. The body is recognizing metal as a foreign material, so it’s trying to rid itself of that or let the body know that it doesn’t like this. It’s overreacting. That’s what an allergy is. I haven’t heard of it in baseball, but allergies to gloves that are not latex happen. Sometimes it’s (an allergy) to the chemicals used to process the gloves.”