The strange, but not unusual, Yankee paradox of Anthony Volpe

For the second straight year, Anthony Volpe ranks No. 1 on the Yankee prospect lists, making him the Death Barge's version of a Hollywood It Girl. This adds Volpe to a confectionary list of recent Future Stars, including Jasson "The Martian" Dominiguez (#1 in '20-'21) and Gleyber "Like a good Gleyber, Torres is there" Torres (#1 in '17-'18.) 

A third year for Volpe won't happen. He'll either breakout at Scranton, forcing his way to the Bronx, or start going the way of Slade Heathcott and Eric Duncan. If he's in the same place next winter, we'll have moved on to the next can't-miss, Spencer Jones. Nothing new about this. It's the traditional rise and fall of future Yank legends.  

Today, though, let's ponder a recent MLB Pipeline Poll among team execs -- "from general managers to farm directors, from scouting directors to analytics specialists" - on baseball's top prospects. For starters, let's accept that this is premium, felony grade, bogus bullshit. It's a parlor game. We don't know who voted or why. It's like a time travel movie: Don't overthink the plot, just let Nicolas Cage yell at the furniture, okay? A parlor game. 

And among these trivial pursuits, Volpe scores quite well... sorta.  

1. On the list of "Top Hitting Prospects," Volpe is one of only 11 players to receive votes. He's the lone Yankee, and despite hitting only .249 last year. The poohbahs love him. That's not nuthin.

2. On the list of "Best Fielding Prospects," Volpe finishes third - with 9 percent of the vote. Hot damn. And get this: The two above him play OF. According to this, Volpe is the minors' best fielding SS. That's definitely not nuthin!

3. On the list of "Best Baseball I.Q," Volpe finishes - gulp - FIRST! He tops the list with 26 percent of the vote. He gets "high marks for his makeup and his instincts." Again, this is fukkin great. Not only is he a top athlete, but he's solid from the neck up. Are you getting a Jeter vibe? Fukkit, I am. 

4. Then - ahem - comes the list we feared: "Most Overrated Prospects." On this, Volpe finishes - shoot me, please - second, with 10 percent. (By the way, Dominiguez also receives votes here.) 

So... WTF? He's the game's smartest prospect, one of its top hitters and fielders... but he's also the most over-hyped? So... which is it? 

Is he the next Derek "Respect" Jeter or the next Jesus "Ice Cream Sandwich" Montero? With the Death Barge, there's always somebody who will someday lead us from the darkness. Trouble is, there's nobody we can truly trust.