Yankees' Anthony Volpe simply must get better at his curtain calls
Anthony Volpe of the Yankees connects for a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, April 22, 2023. Credit: James Escher
Anthony Volpe, only 21 games into his major-league career, seems to have a knack for this baseball thing. And when Blue Jays reliever Yimi Garcia grooved a first-pitch fastball to him Saturday in the eighth inning of a scoreless game, Volpe knew exactly where to put it, punching a 364-foot homer that cleared the short-porch wall in rightfield with only two rows to spare.
One area that Volpe still needs to polish up? The art of the curtain call.
In Volpe’s defense, it’s not something you practice. And rookies, no matter their stature, tend to be reluctant participants. Only when they get the green light from the dugout’s elders do they dare step back into the spotlight. On this occasion, manager Aaron Boone and bench coach Carlos Mendoza nudged him up the steps toward another round of adoration from the 43,223 fans.
“I didn’t really know what was going on,” Volpe said. “I didn’t want to assume to go out or anything like that. I didn’t even know where to go.”
When Volpe finally did resurface, popping out near the on-deck circle, it was only for a blink. And rather than raise his arm in acknowledgment, as most players do, he clapped with the crowd, which came across as a gesture of appreciation.
“Yeah, I didn’t really know what to do,” Volpe said, smiling.
Even by accident, this kid does the right thing. He will turn 22 next week, and it already feels as if he’s been wearing pinstripes for years. He’s checking boxes at a crazy-fast rate and hustling up the learning curve at a velocity that matches his sprint speed on the basepaths. Good thing, too, because the Yankees need every ounce of Volpe at the moment, and that went double for Saturday, when they entered the eighth having scored only one run with a total of seven hits in their previous 16 innings.
Volpe stepped to the plate after Oswald Peraza’s two-out single and didn’t waste a second, taking a monster rip at the 95-mph four-seamer. His eyes never left the ball’s flight as it fought a stiff wind, and when Volpe saw it land safely in the seats, he raised his right arm in triumph coming around first base.
“It was awesome,” Boone said “Goose bumps, you know?”
That it was Volpe definitely amplified the moment. For a New Jersey kid living the dream every day he shows up in the clubhouse, doing what he did Saturday cranks the fantasy meter up to 11. And not just for Volpe himself. The rest of the Yankees have admired him from the jump, and to see him succeed while he’s still adjusting to the sport’s highest level just creates another layer to their appreciation.
“Stud — he’s a winning player,” said Gerrit Cole, an 11-year vet who gets tongue-tied trying to summon enough superlatives about Volpe. “He’s a great complement to the clubhouse. He’s a great defensive player and obviously put a great swing on a good pitch today and gave us a jolt that we needed.”
Not to mention upstaging Cole, who threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings before the grinding Jays wore him out after 96 pitches. Offensively, the Yankees were mostly AWOL again, and Volpe was 0-for-3 with a key strikeout before his hero turn came in the eighth. He did deliver another smart defensive play, however, by keeping a tag on George Springer as he overslid second on a stolen-base attempt that wound up ending the fifth.
While Volpe has been solid — and occasionally spectacular — with his glovework, he’s starting to catch up at the plate after feeling his way through the early part of April. That’s hardly unexpected. When he won the shortstop job in spring training, he had played only 22 games at Triple-A Scranton (a total of 89 at-bats).
But he’s displayed a maturity in the batter’s box from Opening Day, and after hitting .129 (4-for-31) through his first 11 games with five walks and 12 strikeouts, Volpe has found his stride. Since April 12, he has reached base in all 10 games, hitting .265 (9-for-34) with eight walks and nine strikeouts. He’s also been moved to the leadoff spot for eight of those, including the last six, and is 8-for-8 in stolen bases.
“I feel like the last 10 days you’ve really started to see consistent at-bat quality,” Boone said. “Whatever the result ends up being, it’s been that. He’s a heavy at-bat, you know? He’s a tough at-bat, whether you get him out or not.”
The Yankees had an idea of what Volpe could be. He was the team’s first-round draft pick (30th overall) four years ago and considered an untouchable prospect ever since, so they were banking on his potential to be a franchise player. Even so, there are no guarantees, and to see Volpe closing fast on that hype before we’re out of April probably is ahead of schedule.
“I think being here for the homestand, and just settling in, definitely feels a lot better,” Volpe said of his recent uptick. “But we have such a good lineup, there’s probably a lot more pressure to pitch to me knowing there’s really good hitters behind me.”
Maybe so, but Volpe was the only one who got a curtain call Saturday.
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.
