Verdugo shows confidence; but Eovaldi sets him back a bit

BOSTON — Alex Verdugo isn’t short on confidence. When he was traded to the Red Sox back in February, one American League executive alluded to the 24-yearold’s audacity.

“Verdugo can play,” the executive said. “He’s not scared.”

Saturday offered a glimpse into that world. Verdugo hadn’t seen live pitching in 10 months as he recovered from a stress fracture in his back, and Nate Eovaldi was set to pitch in the Sox’ first simulated game. Verdugo, naturally, wanted to face him.

“He told me he wanted to see velocity,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “So, we gave him a lot of velocity.”

Verdugo didn’t fare very well. He was late on many of the pitches, fouling them off to the left side. In one at-bat, Eovaldi struck Verdugo out with a cutter inside, which tied up Verdugo’s hands.

“Let’s say that I got welcomed real quick,” Verdugo said with a smile. “Good old 99-98 [miles per hour].”

Get 108 Stitches in your inbox. Get everything baseball from the Globe’s Red Sox reporters every Monday-Friday during baseball season, and weekly in the offseason.

Sign Up.

The good news, Verdugo said, was that he got to track the ball.

See it out of Eovaldi’s hand and get his timing back.

Eovaldi, who manager Ron Roenicke said is further along than most pitchers, dominated not just Verdugo, but every hitter he faced.

“I started building back up [during the pandemic] like it was an offseason,” said Eovaldi, who said he took a month off in the beginning. “Once they said June 10 was supposed to be our start date, I tried to be ready by then. I probably have thrown five or six outings. I got to throw to [Sox catching prospect] Connor Wong. We were doing like six innings, 15, 20 pitches each.”

Eovaldi has a defined role; it’s almost certain he’ll be the No. 2 starter behind Eduardo Rodriguez. Despite Verdugo being the main piece in the blockbuster trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he enters camp having to make an impression. There has been talk about him possibly platooning in right field with outfielder Kevin Pillar.

That wouldn’t be unfamiliar territory for Verdugo. He comes from a Dodgers organization that prides itself on matchup and situational baseball. Verdugo said he would be willing to play any type of role for the Sox, but made something else clear, too.

“For me, I’m an everyday player,” Verdugo said. “That’s just that. It’s that simple. There are no ifs and or buts about it. I’m somebody who just wants to be out there every single day competing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lefty on the mound or a righty on the mound. So, really, I’m just someone who wants to be out there every day. I want to be a starter. That’s what everyone comes in the big leagues for. That’s what everyone wants to be.”

That, of course, is still to be determined. But Verdugo isn’t shy about where he sees himself fitting into this new-look Red Sox team, even as the new guy himself.

Relief pitchers Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez have tested positive for COVID-19, Roenicke announced on Saturday afternoon.

Taylor is in a Boston hotel and will be isolated for 14 days. Hernandez, however, is still at home and will have to test negative twice before flying. Roenicke is unsure if either will be ready for the start of the season.

“Any time anybody is positive it impacts what happens at the start of the season, just because it’s a shortened s ummer camp,” Roenicke said. “We’ll see how it goes. I can’t tell you that [they’re] not going to be ready because it depends on how far along [they] are in the stages of the virus.”

Roenicke added that Taylor is in deeper stages of the virus than Hernandez and is hopeful he will see negative test results soon.