Alex Verdugo reportedly has a problem.
Yes, the New York Yankees outfielder has struggled this season, but an article from NJ.com’s Randy Miller revealed there could be an odd reason for that: Verdugo is allergic to the chemicals cobalt and chromate.
Which isn’t great when those chemicals are used to make your batting gloves. And your tattoos.
As Verdugo reportedly described it, he has been dealing with sores and pain in his hands and fingers for the past three seasons, to the point that he wraps his palms with gauze and knuckles with medical tape before every game:
“My hands hurt,” Verdugo told NJ Advance Media recently. “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.”
Before the 2021 season, Verdugo was a career .290/.345/.458 hitter with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. This year, he is hitting .237/.297/.368, the worst marks of his career over a full season.
The solution reportedly arrived when the Yankees medical team sent Verdugo to an allergist, who determined that the outfielder was having a reaction to his batting gloves, which contain cobalt in the dyes and chromate from curing the leather.
Additionally, NJ.com reached out to some outside doctors who believed there could be another culprit:
“It’s probably the tattoos,” said Dr. Arthur Lubitz, a Manhattan-based allergist who has been a Yankees fan since the late 1950s. “It’s very rare, but the tattoos are made of metal ink and you can get a tattoo allergy to the metal.”
Relayed Lubitz’s opinion, Verdugo was again floored.
“My tattoos?” he said in disbelief. “Man, I never thought of that.”
Yes, tattoo allergies are a thing. In fact, hypoallergenic tattoos are also a thing.
All of that adds up to enough of the chemicals that Verdugo is apparently having a reaction. The fix for the batting gloves will include the company that makes his batting gloves, Franklin, developing an alternative glove for him. As for the tattoos, there’s not much that can be done there, but Verdugo was reportedly open to the idea of injectable shot called Dupixent that could cure the overall issue.
The Yankees can only hope the effect is immediate.