Anthony Volpe’s Arrival as a Star Could Mean Big Things for the Yankees
A year after making his MLB debut, Volpe has been truly outstanding so far.
Comparing any young shortstop to Derek Jeter is to put a mountain of pressure on his shoulders. But comparing a rookie shortstop for the Yankees to Jeter? That’s unfair bordering on cruel.
Yet, that’s the burden 22-year-old Anthony Volpe carried last season as he made his MLB debut. Volpe mostly handled the expectations with poise and maturity, though his performance on the field drew mixed reviews. On the one hand, he hit just .209 with an 81 OPS+. (Because we can’t resist, Jeter put up rates of .314 and 101 at the same age.) But Volpe also exceled in an area where Jeter famously struggled: The defensive metrics, where 2023’s rookie ranked second at SS in Defensive Runs Saved and above average in MLB’s Statcast rankings.
And this year, Volpe is using the full range of his skills to put together a ridiculously hot start for the Yankees. On a per-162-team-game basis, Volpe is currently on pace for 14.4 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which led the Yankees as of April 14 and ranked third in all of MLB.
Obviously, Volpe isn’t going to put up 14.4 WAR by season’s end. (If he did, it would DOUBLE UP Jeter’s Yankees single-season WAR record of 7.7 at SS from 1999.) But he is already just the fourth shortstop in franchise history to post a 1.000+ OPS through the team’s first 16 games of a season — and the only one to do it at age 23 or younger.
The Yankees are reaping the rewards of Volpe’s performance so far. Entering Monday, New York’s 12-4 record was the best in baseball. The offseason acquisition of RF Juan Soto, who is tracking for his own eye-popping WAR total (11.9), has helped too — but the Yankees wouldn’t be off to this start without Volpe’s production at short.
It’s quite the contrast versus a year ago, when the team was enduring the franchise’s worst season since 1992. For Volpe, entering the big leagues inside of such a fishbowl of negativity could have made life very difficult. Volpe’s debut was considered a disappointment even though his 2.6 WAR ranked fifth-best on the team. But it was also a welcome-to-pinstripes moment for a kid who grew up in Morristown, NJ idolizing Jeter and the Yankees. The harsh media environment is part of the bargain with this team, and players who embrace that truth can thrive under the pressure.
It bears mentioning that we’ve seen the Yankees get out to a red-hot start very recently, only to cool considerably by season’s end. Though they went into Monday ranked third in World Series probability, we’ll probably reserve judgment on their championship bona fides until later in the calendar. But if New York does stay atop the league standings all year, there’s no doubt Volpe will be one of if not the main reason why.
Filed under: Baseball