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I would not send Anthony Volpe to the minors to clear his head and work on his swing.
But I would — if in charge — convene a meeting of my baseball people to see if they differed with me and thought a player who did only have 22 games of Triple-A experience before becoming the starting Yankees shortstop might benefit from work away from a pennant race.
So I called the guy who actually would have to convene such a meeting to see his thoughts on if Volpe and, thus, the Yankees, would get something out of a mental and tactical reset for their shortstop.
“We haven’t talked about it,” Brian Cashman said by phone. “I feel like, by far, we believe in him and, yes, his development continues at the major league level. There are growing pains, obviously, when you pull the ripcord on somebody’s opportunity early, which he did earn (a starting job in spring 2023), but he’s still finding his way. But also he’s by far our best player at that position (shortstop) and you could argue he’s our best player by far in our infield. So, no, there’s never been a consideration to sending him down. He’s working through everything in a thoughtful way. He’s working his tail off. And again, our opinion of him and his ability to eventually reach his ceilings are still intact.”
I believe in Volpe too, that — at minimum — he is going to be a winning asset even if he falls short of being a star. But I asked about considering a minor league pitstop — and in my view it would be a refresher pitstop and not a punishment and nothing close to permanent — because for the first time in his two Yankee seasons, it has seemed like offensive struggles are wearing on the 23-year-old.
The other reason is because Volpe does not tend to go into slumps, as much as extended offensive death spirals that take weeks for him to pull out from.
“It (hitting) is tough, arguably the toughest thing in all sports,” Cashman said. “I understand that. We understand that. His ebbs and flows are obviously what they are. But our belief in the player and that he’s a foundational piece are also there. We think he’s the solution and not part of the current problem. I understand it is fair to ask any and all questions, but I am here to reinforce that our belief in him is steadfast.”
Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2023 and hit 21 homers and stole 25 bases and showed durability by playing the 13th-most innings in the field (1,346 ⅔) and the second-most behind Francisco Lindor at shortstop. But he hit just .209 with a .283 on-base percentage and a 27.8 strikeout percentage. He invested in the offseason in swing changes he hoped would lead to using the whole field more to, among other items, boost his average and lower his strikeout rate.
And going into Tuesday night’s game, Volpe was hitting .247 with a 22.3 percent strikeout rate, which put him right near MLB average of .244 and 22.4. And he still had 20 steals and durability, having played the most innings in the field of anybody. But his walk and homer rates and hard-hit percentage were all done considerably.
And the rollercoaster of performance has been extreme, especially with how long the lulls last. Consider just his batting average fluctuations: In his first 16 games, he hit .373; in his next 19: .158; in his next 27: 333; in his next 35: .171; in his next 15: .359; and in his last 12 through the weekend: .109.
“He’s making adjustments and he continues to make adjustments and we are in lockstep with that,” Cashman said. “But we know he is making changes on the run. We know he’s growing and emerging. So I know what you are asking (about a short minor league stint), but it is not something we are considering. I would acknowledge and restate that he is our shortstop and we don’t feel we need to send him down to Triple-A to get a reset. We believe strongly that he’s going to be here and stay here and help us win games. I think he’s done that already and I do think there’s more gas in the tank there. But that’s true about a lot of our guys at the same time.”
Helped by his baserunning and defense, Volpe’s 2.9 Wins Above Replacement was 49th among position players, which is good. But it was tied with Colorado’s Ezequiel Tovar and San Diego’s Ha-Seong Kim for 12th best among shortstops — and that does not include Mookie Betts, who played a lot of shortstop this year, but now has switched back to right field, or Jackson Merrill, a shortstop by trade who is playing center for the Padres.
So are you an asset if you are arguably among the 50 best position players, but not in the top third in the league at your position?
“I believe he’s a high asset,” Cashman said. “I think this is a hard city to play in and I have no doubts about his ability to play in it. I have no doubt about his ability to help us win in it. I’m glad that he’s available for our manager to be writing him in the lineup on a daily basis. I think if he were taken off line from us for even, say, an injury, we would be scrambling a little bit more for who (Aaron Boone) would write in. I think he will impact us more in a positive way while also knowing the future is even brighter.”
