The Yankees’ leader in games played is a 22-year-old who entered spring training with a long-shot chance of even breaking camp with the team.
Anthony Volpe, who hit the game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th inning of the Yankees’ 6-5 comeback win over the Orioles on Tuesday night a the Stadium, is the lone member of the club to play in each of the Yankees’ first 50 games, during which he has impressed enough to remain an everyday option, even if his bat is still adjusting to major league pitching.
Volpe entered play Tuesday with a .687 OPS that had been boosted by good plate discipline (20 walks) and solid pop (seven home runs).
His baserunning — successful on his first 13 stolen-base attempts — has been his standout skill, turning plenty of singles into manufactured triples.
The next step would be for his bat to catch up to his legs and his mostly reliable glove. Volpe, who went 0-for-4 before the big sacrifice fly game-winning RBI, is 3-for-22 (.136) in his past seven games, sinking his average to .207.
“He’s had his ups and downs at the plate. With that said, he’s gotten a lot of big hits for us,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees opened a series with the Orioles in The Bronx. “He’s hit some balls out of the ballpark. He’s given you a glimpse [of] I think a guy that’s going to be really good at controlling the strike zone and being a guy that in the future you can envision hitting at the top or in the middle of the lineup.
“He’s not been overwhelmed by anything.”
Defensively, Volpe is middle of the pack when measured by Defensive Runs Saved, and Boone said he has “overall played really well” at shortstop. His six errors led the team, but so did his games and innings played.
The biggest hole has been in Volpe’s ability to consistently make contact. The New Jerseyan had struck out at least once in 10 straight games, a funk in which he whiffed 15 times in 34 plate appearances. His 30.4 percent strikeout rate entered play as the worst among 20 qualified shortstops.
Volpe was punched out in just 17.7 percent of his 497 plate appearances in Double-A last year. The lack of contact is a new challenge for him, but so is the major league level itself.
“The more at-bats you get here, the more exposure you get here,” Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas said of the adjustment that comes when rookies transition to the major leagues. “The more information there is for teams, and the more strategy they’re going to put into you.”
Rojas, as Mets manager, watched top prospects such as Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez attempt to turn minor league domination into major league results, with mixed success.
He said he has seen prospects with talent levels similar to Volpe, but he has seen few with a similar makeup.
“On top of his abilities, it’s his poise. The New York stage, you know what it can do to a young man. This kid is the same every day,” Rojas said of Volpe, who played just 22 games at Triple-A before winning the big-league job during spring training. “Slow start, bad day, bad streak — he’s the same kid.
“You see a bright future when somebody’s that consistent at that age. You’ve gotta think he’s going to get even better.”
There is less pressure for Volpe’s bat to further emerge now that he is at the bottom of the lineup — he batted seventh Tuesday — after several injuries previously had forced him up to leadoff.
And even through an inconsistent offensive beginning to his career, his consistent threat on the base paths has compensated. After 50 games, Volpe has earned plenty more time.
“I think he’s a really good-looking player,” Boone said. “I think he’s confirmed a lot of things that I think we expected when we made the decision at the end of camp to bring him with us and make him our shortstop.”
