With Anthony Volpe within the midst of one more stoop, the shortstop discovered himself out of the Yankees’ beginning lineup for Sunday’s sequence finale in opposition to the Crimson Sox.
Volpe has been a mainstay within the Yankees’ lineup since successful the staff’s beginning shortstop job out of spring coaching as a rookie in 2023. Nonetheless, Aaron Boone didn’t decide to the 24-year-old returning to motion on Monday in opposition to the Nationals.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” the supervisor stated. “We’ll see. I haven’t made any definitive [decisions].”
Boone added that Volpe is absolutely wholesome, although Yankees common supervisor Brian Cashman beforehand stated that the infielder has performed via issues this season. Volpe banged up his left shoulder early within the yr and took a pitch to his left elbow in June.
Whereas Volpe has been a lineup staple since debuting, his on a regular basis presence has been undeserved. Now nearing the top of his third large league season, Volpe entered Sunday’s recreation with a .222/.284/.380 slash line and an 85 wRC+ over 1,799 profession plate appearances.
Of the 88 gamers with 1,500 plate appearances since 2023, Volpe ranked 88th in common and on-base proportion and 87th in wRC+ and OPS (.665).
This season, Volpe has hit .208/.274/.400 with 18 dwelling runs, 65 RBI, 15 stolen bases and an 86 wRC+ over his first 128 video games. He’s already set a career-high for RBI and has a robust likelihood at surpassing his private better of 21 homers. However he has remained vulnerable to excessive peaks and valleys, thus persevering with a development that has made him an enigma on the plate.
Volpe’s benching adopted an 8-for-66 (.121) stretch that featured only one dwelling run and 19 strikeouts in as many video games. Previous to that, he went 14-for-50 with seven homers over 14 video games following the All-Star break.
To make issues worse, Volpe’s Gold Glove protection has suffered critical regression this season. His 17 errors trailed solely Elly De La Cruz’s 18 on Sunday, whereas his -7 Outs Above Common ranked twenty second out of 25 certified shortstops.
Whereas Boone has principally excused the poor protection and nearly any errors Volpe makes — he had fielded higher previous to the Crimson Sox sequence — the skipper acknowledged that the participant has been “scuffling” on the plate during the last 7-to-10 days.
It’s been longer than that, although, prompting repeated boos for the childhood Yankees fan.
“I think he handles it quite well,” Boone stated when requested if the scrutiny has taken a psychological toll on Volpe. “I don’t assume he’s overly affected by these issues. That is only a younger participant that works his tail off and is tremendous aggressive and is looking for that subsequent stage of consistency in his recreation offensively.
“He’s mentally very tough and totally wired to handle all of the things that go with being a big leaguer in this city and being a young big leaguer that’s got a lot of expectations on him.”
Whether or not the Yankees will modify their expectations for Volpe — or his position — stays to be seen, as Boone and Cashman have repeatedly vouched for the New York native whereas insisting he has extra to supply.
With Volpe on the bench on Sunday, nonetheless, the versatile José Caballero discovered himself beginning at shortstop. The speedster’s Yankees profession has gotten off to a scorching begin, as Caballero hit .320/.433/.600 with two homers, 4 RBI and 6 stolen bases over his first 14 video games with the staff following a commerce from the Rays.
Boone known as Caballero a “spark,” and he famous that the pesky participant provides the Yankees a stable shortstop different off the bench. The staff didn’t have that earlier this season when Oswald Peraza, a slick fielder however certainly one of baseball’s worst hitters, served because the membership’s backup shortstop.
“Cabbie gives you that real utility presence that can go play anywhere, and especially go play short,” Boone stated. “We’re at the all-hands-on-deck portion of the season. We brought in Caballero, which changes the personnel we have and what we’re able to do.”
Initially Printed: August 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM EDT
