Verdugo went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored in Thursday's 11-5 victory over Minnesota.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run off Kenta Maeda, his second longball of the year, giving the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead. Verdugo has gotten off to a hot start this season, hitting safely in 16 of his first 20 games. He's slashing .338/.407/.481 with eight RBI, 16 runs scored and a stolen base through his first 77 at-bats of the year.

Verdugo went 3-for-5 with a double, a walk and a run scored in Tuesday's 5-4 extra-inning win over the Twins.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo kicked off the home half of the first with a double to right and would come around to score on a hit off the bat of Rafael Devers. He reached again in the second and fourth frames but supplied the biggest hit of the game in the 10th, driving home the game-winning run on a liner that landed just fair of the right-field foul line. The 26-year-old has now hit safely in his last five games and raised his slash line to .348/.416/.464 to go with a home run, seven RBI, 14 runs scored and an 8:8 BB:K over 77 plate appearances. He has been exceptional to kick off the year as the primary leadoff hitter for the Red Sox.

Verdugo is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Angels, Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reports.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo will head to the bench in what appears to be nothing more than a maintenance day while the Red Sox and Angels close their series with a day game that begins at 11:10 a.m. ET. Raimel Tapia will replace Verdugo as the Red Sox's starting right fielder and leadoff man.

Verdugo went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored in Sunday's 2-1 win over the Angels.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo stole his first base of the season before trotting home on Justin Turner's two-run home run. He's never attempted more than eight steals in the majors, but Verdugo is getting on base enough to beat that mark. The outfielder has a .386 OBP and reached base multiple times in eight of 16 contests.

Verdugo and went 1-for-4 with a walk in Saturday's 9-7 win over the Angels.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo has been an on-base machine early on, reaching base safely in 14 of the first 15 games played. The outfielder sports a career-high .379 OBP and 10.6 percent walk rate while cutting down on strikeouts. Those are the traits manager Alex Cora saw when deciding to have Verdugo lead off against righties.

Verdugo went 1-for-5 with a two-run home run in Saturday's 9-8 win over the Orioles.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo slugged one of four home runs on the day for Boston, with his third-inning blast off Dean Kremer helping cut the Red Sox's deficit to four runs in the team's eventual come-from-behind victory. The 26-year-old has batted out of the leadoff spot versus right-handed starting pitchers in both of Boston's first two contests, but he'll drop to sixth in the batting order Sunday while lefty Cole Irvin takes the hill for Baltimore.

Verdugo went 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored in Thursday's 10-9 loss to the Orioloes.

EDGE Analysis

Verdugo batted leadoff and helped erase an early 1-0 deficit with a triple to open the bottom half of the first inning. He's expected to bat leadoff whenever the Red Sox face a right-hander.

Verdugo is starting at leadoff at playing right field for the Red Sox on Thursday versus the Orioles, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

Triston Casas has also been mentioned by manager Alex Cora as a possible option at leadoff against right-handers, but Verdugo will get the first crack at it. Casas is batting sixth versus Kyle Gibson.

Verdugo and Triston Casas will both be used in the leadoff spot versus right-handed pitching this season, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told Ian Browne of MLB.com on Friday.

EDGE Analysis

Cora plans to "mix and match" in the leadoff spot, at least initially, until someone shows they can handle it regularly. Enrique Hernandez and Christian Arroyo will get looks in the leadoff spot versus left-handers. Whoever is batting leadoff that particular day will be followed by Rafael Devers, Justin Turner and Masataka Yoshida.

Boston manager Alex Cora mentioned Verdugo and Enrique Hernandez as players he'd like to see steal more bases this season, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

With the addition of bigger bases -- the distance between bases is reduced by four-and-a-half inches -- along with a new limit of number of pickoff attempts per batter, Cora is hoping the Red Sox can take advantage. Verdugo stole one base (caught three times) in 2022 and six the previous year. The manager plans to have his staff emphasize certain baserunning techniques to improve the team's production in that category. Boston ranked next-to-last in 2021 with 40 steals and 26th last season with 52. Cora's also cognizant to be careful getting too reckless at Fenway Park, where baserunners are in scoring position at first base.