Alex Verdugo's new clean-shaved look has Yankees fans in splits: "Dude went from Paul Wall to Justin Bieber"

Freshly onboarded New York Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo is already getting good vibes from Bronx fans. The Yankees recently traded right-handers Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert and Nicholas Judice to the Boston Red Sox for Verdugo. The 27-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

Recently, "Talkin' Yanks" posted a photo of clean-shaved Alex Verdugo, who at first glance was 'unrecognizable' to fans. Many fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to react to his clean-shaved look and started to make comparisons with singer Justin Bieber as well:

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"He is unrecognizable now lol!" one fan said.

"Dude went from Paul Wall to Justin Bieber," another user said.

Here are a few other reactions on X:

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Alex Verdugo's MLB career

Verdugo was drafted in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He joined the Dodgers instead of playing college baseball at Arizona State University. He was promoted to the majors on September 1, 2017, and made his debut against the San Diego Padres, but went hitless in three at-bats.

During his stint with the Dodgers, Alex Verdugo couldn't stay healthy enough, prompting the Dodgers to trade him along with Jeter Downs and Connor Wong to the Boston Red Sox for Mookie Betts, David Price and cash.

He hit .281/.338/.424 (105 OPS+) and had 8.2 WAR in four seasons with the Red Sox after being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Mookie Betts deal. He also irritated manager Alex Cora on numerous occasions, leading to his benching in August after being late for a game.

The Yankees have made a lot of moves in their outfield. After acquiring Verdugo, they traded for Juan Soto, another MVP-caliber player apart from captain Aaron Judge. They are also frontrunners on a lot of Cy Young-caliber free agents like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and Jordan Montgomery.

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