Yankees' Anthony Volpe on track to be leadoff man
New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe runs onto the field before an MLB baseball game against the Miami Marlins at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Anthony Volpe has done it all during the start of his sophomore season, playing an instrumental role in the Yankees’ historic April launch. He’s been one of the league’s most dangerous hitters (check the stats) and followed up his Gold Glove rookie season with what you could argue already appears to be a more dazzling defensive effort than a year ago.
There’s only one thing left for Volpe to do. Take over as the Yankees’ leadoff man. And if Volpe continues to produce like this at the plate, showing an unimaginable leap from last season, he’ll never leave that top spot for the remainder of his time in pinstripes. Volpe got 28 starts at leadoff a year ago, but only now is he looking ready for the job, and he’s likely to be back up there again in the future. Sooner rather than later.
“There may be a day when he becomes a natural fit up there,” manager Aaron Boone said before Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory over the Marlins. “So that’s always in there. And I do feel like, when we look up in 10 years, that’s where his future is going to be, at the top of the lineup and that’s who he is. It will be a little fluid, but not something I’m in a real hurry to do.”
The idea didn’t make a lot of sense in March when DJ LeMahieu went down with a fractured foot. Despite another stellar spring, Volpe was coming off a year when his .209 batting average was third-worst in the majors (among the 134 players with qualifying at-bats) and his .283 on-base percentage was second from the bottom, above only the notoriously reckless free-swinger Javy Baez (.267).
No one expected that from Volpe when the Yankees promoted him to the Opening Day roster a year ago. And what he’s done so far this season, after a winter to revert to the swing that fast-tracked him to the majors in the first place, Volpe is proving that rookie version was a poor facsimile.
“He’s becoming a superstar in this league,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said.
Volpe went 0-for-4 Tuesday night, but came within inches of a two-run homer when his long foul ball narrowly missed the leftfield pole (the review didn’t go in his favor). He followed it up with a 101.5-mph grounder that Marlins starter A.J. Puk turned into a double play. Previously, Volpe was doing serious damage, entering Tuesday tied with Atlanta’s Orlando Arcia for the MLB lead in batting average (.417) and sitting fourth in OPS (1.154), a spot higher than the Angels’ Mike Trout (1.138).
The Yankees figured to have Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in this neighborhood. But Volpe, the kid shortstop who turns 23 at the end of this month? He’s a totally different hitter now, or perhaps more accurately, just back to his former top-prospect self. And this Volpe looks increasingly ready to be the spark atop one of the game’s most intimidating lineups, with the speed to disrupt opposing pitchers for those MVP-caliber sluggers behind him.
It's just a matter of when. With the Yankees’ off to a 10-2 start, matching their best in franchise history, Boone isn’t feeling any urgency to pull Gleyber Torres from the leadoff spot, where he’s been since Opening Day as LeMahieu’s replacement. Torres has been supplying solid at-bats, seeing plenty of pitches, but with little to show for it (.200 BA, .281 OBP).
As for Volpe, he’s settled more comfortably further down in the lineup, splitting his time between the sixth and seventh spots (one turn at No. 5).
That’s how it should’ve been for Volpe a year ago, letting him mature at the major-league level, surrounded by All-Stars. But the Yankees’ injury epidemic mostly left him unprotected. Volpe even wound up getting pushed into the leadoff slot, putting additional pressure on the youngster to not only perform, but help carry the broken lineup.
Volpe seemed to buckle under that weight. He still racked up 21 homers, but the uppercut swing ended up wrecking his previous all-fields approach. Now that Volpe has worked on a flatter swing path, and is making better decisions at the plate, the results have been dramatic. His strikeout rate has dropped from 27.8% a year ago to 21.4% this season and his walk rate has jumped from 8.7% to 11.9%.
“The approach and the mentality I think is the same,” Volpe said. “But I definitely learned a lot from last year. Where I was last year versus now, there’s a lot more life experience.”
At this early stage, Volpe is building a strong case for Yankees MVP, never mind leadoff hitter. He’s been the engine of their impressive start.
“What hasn’t he done?” Giancarlo Stanton said. “He’s all over on defense, and he’s shooting the ball everywhere on offense, stealing bases, causing havoc for the other team. It’s been fun to watch.”
Think of the fun elevating Volpe to the leadoff spot, where he’d trigger what could be among MLB’s most lethal Top Three with Soto and Judge behind him. Maybe the Yankees don’t feel the need to make that leap this early, but it’s coming soon. Volpe is making such a move inevitable.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
