After 76 games in the leadoff spot, Anthony Volpe found himself dropped in the Yankees’ order for Thursday’s series finale against the Reds.
Instead, Ben Rice batted first. Volpe hit sixth, as Aaron Boone wanted to “shake it up” and give the struggling shortstop “a little break” from the top of the order.
“It doesn’t mean that he won’t go back in there,” the manager continued before the Yankees’ 8-4 loss, noting that that could be especially true when the Yankees face left-handed starters.
Boone said that he’s thought about pulling Volpe from the leadoff spot for a couple of days. He briefly spoke to Volpe about the decision on Wednesday night and said that the player was on board.
While Volpe had a two-run double in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Cincinnati, he went 1-for-5 and bounced into a ninth-inning double play. He’s hit .242 with a .293 OBP as the Yankees’ No. 1 hitter, a role he assumed on April 10. Prior to Thursday, the sophomore had hit just .206 with a .228 OPB since May 30.
Volpe proceeded to go 0-for-4 on Thursday. Afterward, Boone said that Volpe could get a day off this weekend against the Red Sox, though the skipper is not currently considering a multi-game benching for the infielder, who provides Gold Glove defense.
“I’d rather see it play a little bit,” Boone said postgame. “There may be a day that I give him, but I’m not at that point in my mind where I’m looking at a couple-day situation right now. There may be a day just because he has played so much at an obviously very demanding position.”
Whatever Boone decides to do, Volpe’s production must improve. What he was doing as a leadoff man became untenable, especially when the Yankees have two of the game’s best hitters batting second and third.
Boone acknowledged that the Bombers need to “optimize” the spot “in front of the big boys,” aka Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
“It’s just a critical spot right now ahead of what Juan and Aaron are doing there,” Boone said. “You want to try and just, in a lot of ways, kind of get the hottest guy that’s getting on base in front of them and taking advantage of that.”
Rice has been that guy, recording a .378 OBP over his first 14 games in the majors. He was also hitting .270 with three doubles, four RBI and more walks (7) than strikeouts (6) before hitting his first career home run, a solo shot, on Thursday.
Rice went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts on the day, but he also had a seven-pitch at-bat his first time up.
“Good at-bats,” Boone said afterward. “Real calm, under control, patient, and good to see him get his first dinger out of the way.”
Overall, the rookie has shown that he can keep up with big league pitching thus far, impressing Boone with his at-bat quality even when he’s failed to get on base.
“I feel pretty good,” Rice said. “Just continuing to see the pitching at this level and get a little bit more comfortable as each day goes by. I like where I’m at.”
As for hitting in front of Soto and Judge, the rookie added, “That’s definitely pretty cool.”
Be that as it may, Rice said that his approach won’t change as a leadoff hitter, a job he had experience with in the minors.
Volpe’s approach, meanwhile, deserves some questioning.
After hitting .209 with a .283 OBP and 167 strikeouts as a rookie last year, the 23-year-old flattened his bat path in an effort to make more contact and better swing decisions. Even with his prolonged struggles, Volpe was hitting .256, a noticeable improvement from last year, after his new swing produced a scorching start to the season.
However, his groundball rate has jumped from 41.1% to 52.7%, and his pull rate has dropped from 46.7% to 25.4%. His barrel rate has also fallen, going from 9% to 4.2%.
Volpe is hitting the ball in the air less, as his flyball rate has dropped from 27.6% to 20.1%. After hitting 21 homers last year, he has just six this season.
He hasn’t gone deep since May 16.
On Thursday, Boone said that he’s “happy” with the changes that Volpe has made and that he doesn’t feel the youngster has overcorrected in an attempt to address some of last year’s problems.
He added that Volpe is still a “ball of clay” and finding his way as the league continues to adjust to him.
“He clearly made some swing adjustments and changes and alterations in the offseason,” Boone said. “But we’re talking about a 23-year-old guy that’s adjusting, growing, learning. I feel like this is kind of all part of the process of him getting to be a more complete product. I think we’re gonna look up at the end of the year and see a good offensive player when it’s all said and done.”
RICE VS. LEFTIES
The Yankees didn’t face a left-handed starter on Thursday, but the topic of Rice getting at-bats vs. southpaws came up because the lefty-swinging first baseman has sat against some in the early days of his MLB career.
“I feel like the at-bats have been really competitive,” Boone said of Rice facing lefties. “But that said, we’re going to use our roster, too.”
Boone specifically mentioned the Yankees’ decision to acquire J.D. Davis, who is traditionally better against lefties. With Rice on the bench, Davis cleaned up on Wednesday against the left-handed Andrew Abbott. He went 0-for-3, lowering his Yankees average to .083.
So far, the Yankees haven’t gained a platoon advantage when Rice is out of the lineup. Meanwhile, the 25-year-old believes he’ll only get better with more at-bats against lefties.
“I feel like I just saw more of them and was able to just kind of self-learn and figure out ways to get better against them,” Rice said, referring to his improved numbers against lefties in the minors this season. “It’s the same as any skill, right? You need to keep practicing, keep getting repetition and seeing more of it. The more I do something, the better I’ll get.”
RECOVERY UPDATES
Boone said the plan is for Jon Berti (calf) to travel to Tampa with the Yankees next week. He’ll likely stay down there at the team’s player development complex through the All-Star break. If all goes well, Berti will start getting live at-bats and into rehab games during or right after the break.
Boone also said that Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) is starting to ramp up baseball activities as he hopes to meet his original four-week timeline.
