Yankees outfielder Verdugo ready for ‘fresh start’
NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo complied with the New York Yankees‘ rule against facial hair by a lot more than a whisker. He clipped off his red beard two months before spring training.
“My mom loves it,” he said Thursday, showing off his impeccably shaved face during a Zoom news conference. “My mom thinks I look like her little boy again. She says I look like I’m back in high school.”
New York acquired the 27-year-old outfielder from the Boston Red Sox on Dec. 5 for right-handers Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice, part of an offseason makeover that included getting slugging All-Star Juan Soto in a trade with San Diego the following day.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner issued a code in 1976 banning facial hair, lengthy locks that dropped below the collar and long sideburns. Once Verdugo was dealt to New York, he felt razor focused to conform.
“It was kind of bothering me, man. That was the biggest thing going to the Yankees, you have to be clean shaven,” he said. “I haven’t been clean shaven since high school and even then, I would have some stuff on my chin, some things like that. It was just kind of eating at me. And I was like, you know what, I don’t even know how I look without a beard. I want to cut it up, see how it feels. And then also, I wanted to – since you have to keep up the shaving. I wanted to see like how my skin would react to constantly shaving and keeping it clean.”
Verdugo had liked the beard for warmth.
“It feels like a fresh start,” he said. “I feel like a kid again.”
Speaking from his home in Arizona, Verdugo said he has been working out in a Yankees cap. He wore No. 27 with Boston, a number held by Giancarlo Stanton in New York. Verdugo said he’ll wait until he gets a new pendant to reveal his new jersey.
He hit .264 with 13 homers, 54 RBI and a .745 OPS this year in his fourth season with the Red Sox. A Gold Glove finalist, he had 12 outfield assists and nine defensive runs saved.
New York manager Aaron Boone thinks the left-handed-hitting Verdugo could benefit from Yankee Stadium’s short porch.
“I think there’s more in there,” Boone said. “I don’t necessarily think he’s reached his potential. So hopefully this environment for him and obviously entering the last year before free agency, there’s a lot carrots out there.”
Verdugo bristled when he first learned of the trade.
“I was hot. I was just like, man, they really me sent to rivals, the Yankees?” he said.
Verdugo was benched twice last season by Boston manager Alex Cora: on June 8 for not hustling between first and second on a grounder a night earlier, and on Aug. 5 for arriving late at the ballpark.
“It toughens me up and it makes me realize some things,” Verdugo said. “I’m not too sure 100% what it was. It could also be you’re struggling on a baseball team. It’s just there’s a lot of expectations and when you’re not really meeting them, you kind of start bumping heads a little bit.”
He complimented Boone for defending his players, citing the profane 2019 rant at umpire Brennan Miller in which the manager praised his team as “savages.”
“That’s something I want to see out of my head coach, man. I want to see some fire, some fight for the guys,” Verdugo said. “I think just instead of airing people out, have their backs.”
Verdugo said veterans reached out to him during difficult days in Boston.
“I want to prove maybe a lot of these he said, she said things wrong,” he said. “We’re all people, man. We’re all humans. And, yeah, we make mistakes, but how do we learn from it and how do we bounce back from it and how how much stronger do we get from that?”
His visits to the Bronx as an opponent did not go smoothly. In July 2021, Verdugo was struck on the back by a baseball thrown from Yankee Stadium’s left-field stands.
“It’s part of that rivalry,” he said. “The mindset in New York, how people talk – they’re a little bit more aggressive and they’re kind of straight to the point. I like that, man. I enjoy it. And I think when they see me play every day and they see me bust my butt and work hard, I think they’ll like what they see.”
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.
In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”
Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.
The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.
Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.
Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.
“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.
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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.
Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.
“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”
Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.
Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.
Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.
Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).
When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).
With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.
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