New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said what we all already know about Anthony Volpe.
New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe is probably facing more adversity than any other player on the roster right now.
A former top prospect who showed flashes of brilliance his first couple of seasons, Volpe trudged through a miserable campaign in which he slashed .212/.272/.391 while also uncharacteristically laboring in the field.
Of course, a torn labrum in his shoulder certainly played a role in Volpe's struggles, but the fact that the 24-year-old owns just a .662 OPS since entering the big leagues in 2023 has not sat well with Yankees fans.
On that note, manager Aaron Boone recently touched on Volpe's subpar OPS and dropped some rather, uh, obvious comments about the situation.
“We’ve got to get that number to go up,” Boone said, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “There’s a lot of different ways to do that, whether it’s getting on base more and hitting for a higher average, or whether it’s being more consistent on the power front.”
I mean, it doesn't get any more obvious than that. If you get more hits, your OPS will increase. It's not exactly rocket science.
New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe. Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images.To Boone's credit, the skipper never likes to publicly say anything negative about his players. That's commendable. But come on, Boonie: literally anyone who watches baseball regularly knows that Volpe has to boost his OPS, and that merely involves being a better hitter.
To be fair, Volpe has shown he has it in him. He owned a .786 OPS on the season before suffering his shoulder injury in early May, and in spite of his paltry slash line, he managed to smash 19 home runs while tallying 72 RBI. Solid numbers for a shortstop.
Strikeouts have been a major problem for Volpe, as the youngster fanned 150 times in and has been rung up on 473 occasions over his first three seasons. But if he starts drawing more walks and getting more hits, the strikeouts will become more negligible.
Volpe definitely deserves a chance. He's still young, he's under team control through 2028 and it's not like the Yankees have any other options right now. And again, it's not like the former first-round pick hasn't flashed significant talent.
But 2026 will absolutely comprise a make-or-break year for the hometown kid.