For the Yankees, beyond all the gnashing of teeth and bone over Juan Gone, this is the 2025 reality: It's all about the shortstop.
Derek Jeter is 50, a full 10 years into retirement. Fifth-graders - the next generation of Yank fans - only know him as a TV postgame meat puppet. Since he left, we've burned through Didi Gregorius, Tyler Wade, Thairo Estrada, Gleyber Torres, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Oswald Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera. For now, our long and short term future rests with Anthony Volpe.
How can I say this? We have the game's greatest slugger and perhaps the league's most intriguing leadoff hitter. (Note: That's Jazz Chisolm.) We have Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, and The Martian. How can so much balance on Volpe's 23 year old shoulders?
Well, it's easy. Ten reasons...
1. The Yankees have nobody in the farm system remotely resembling the next star SS. The bonus baby, Roderick Arias, and the former 1st round pick, George Lombard Jr., remain mired in the distant minors, long long ago and far far away. Maybe one will break out in 2025. At best, they might reach Scranton, ready to arrive in 2026. But right now, it's Volpe or your mom. (And she can't go to her left.)
2. Amid last year's carnival of upheavals, Volpe treaded water. Good news: His rather meh .243 batting average turned out to be 34 points above 2023 (when he hit a ghastly .209.) But his HRs fell from 20 to 12. Overall, his OPS was almost exactly the same - in 2023, a Satanic .666; last year, an Oswaldic .657. He began 2024 at the top of the lineup, finished hitting 7th. Meh.
3. Two winters ago, Volpe was being compared with Bobby Witt Jr. NY hype? Probably. It surely won't happen again. But Witt's rocketlike ascension last season should offer hope for Volpe. Witt, now 24, is a full year older. They're on the same timeline, so to speak.
4. Volpe is a grinder, known to put in the work, and to be coachable. (With the Yankees, that can be a problem.) Last spring, the brain trust tinkered with his swing. In the end, he sacrificed power for average. Not sure whether it worked, but there is no reason to think Volpe cannot improve. He might never equal Witt, but he could be a top-tier SS. Sadly, last year, he wasn't.
5. His dramatic World Series grand slam highlighted a .286 batting average through the postseason. In October, Volpe seemed to remember his speed. He stole 5 bases, never once thrown out. In the 2024 regular season, he stole 28. Damn. This guy should steal 50. He needs to run wild. Last year, he was like an NBA point guard who misses a few jumpers early on, and then stops shooting.
6. Volpe compares to Jeter in one metric: Durability. Over the last two years, Volpe has missed five games. (Three in 2023, two last year.) It's hard to imagine the Yankee lineup without Volpe at SS.
7. Also, Volpe brought decent glovework. In 2023, he won a headscratcher Gold Glove. Last year, he botched some high-profile plays. Remember that out-of-body loss to Baltimore last July, before the All-Star break? Hint: Verdugo's face plant? It happened because Volpe muffed an easy play. Also, he shall be remembered forever for the Knoblachian throw to 3B in game five, which helped unleash the hounds of hell. It barely went 20 feet. I hate to think of that play haunting Volpe all winter. Could it foster the yips? He must put it far behind him. Like, I shouldn't even mention it here. Right?
8. The hometown hero aspect of Volpe's career - he's from Morristown, NJ, where fun fact: I once worked in the local library - is winding down. Local Boy Makes Good can only go so far. In 2025, Volpe will live or die based on output. If he doesn't hit, the Gammonites will start whispering that he "needs a change of scenery." From there, he's gone.
9. Age-wise, he's entering his prime, as the undisputed anchor of the infield. Depending on where Jazz Chisolm plays, the Yanks will have a new 1B, 2B and/or 3B. Goldschmidt should save a bunch of errors, though he carries a whiff of Youkilis, Tulowitski, et al. But heading into 2025, this is Volpe's infield.
10. Did I mention that it's the shortstop, stupid? Because it is. The Yankees will live or die with Volpe. Imagine their lineup if his bat justifies him hitting leadoff? And what it signifies if he's eighth? It's night and day. It's Volpe or nothing.
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18 comments:
BA over HRs, please. OBP over BA, even.
Volpe isn't one of those kids who showed up in the majors fully formed. He has to decide what he wants to be. A Jeter wanna-be or a Volpe Grande, a bunting, base-stealing, smart, Hoover at short, with occasional power. A good, old-fashioned terror for other teams.
We've got guys who can hit home runs. But we could really use a guy like that, imo.
JM - have you considered reaching out to Volpe
to, you know - uhm, uh…..let him know your thoughts?
Duque put his finger on it, as usual: coaching. With the Yankees, paying attention to the coaches usually means moving backwards—as Volpe mostly did last year. I expect more of the same this season; the guy is just not the Jeter replacement Cashie so desperately wants.
And yes, I have mixed feelings about Keefe. So glad he is not simply going away, as he threatened. But sad to see him toe the party line. No, the Yankees are not a better team after losing a superstar and adding a couple of potentially useful parts (Fried and Williams—both postseason disasters, incidentally), and some overaged mediocrities who may or may not have another good year in them.
Hoss, Keefe is likely one paper cut away from full nuclear meltdown.
The holiday spirit likely got him in a chokehold that the three horsemen of the Yankee Apocalypse will Heimlich out of him in no time
I think the Volpe we’ve seen is the Volpe we’re gonna get..
And yeah, I’ve been complaining about the coaching for years. It’s all part of the organizational malaise the permeates the team from top to bottom.
By "whiff of Youkilis" -- didja mean he smells of Hai Karate?
@ JFB-He wore English Leather.....or he wore nothing at all!
That's very sad, because L'il Tony can't hit.
And I agree with you: Keefe is in the midst of a psychotic break with reality.
Carl - I always wondered about the wording of that. So if a man wears English Leather he doesn't get to have sex with her? The word "or" implies if they are wearing nothing at all it is an alternative as in either / or.
Does she wash it off? That could be fun. But given the choice of wearing crappy cologne or having sex with her I choose the later.
NOTE ON DELETIONS: I seem to be having AA's problem of not enough coffee in my system to get the mind/fingers connection working together.
close your eyes, breathe, and image for a moment what Youkilis smells like . . .
just brewed a fresh pot - I'll hold a cup of it out of the window - see if you can smell that . . .
You worked in Morristown, NJ? I lived for several years in Madison, just a town or two to the east.
Doug.... I think the woman in that ad is implying that if you slather your body with that cheap stuff you'll score! At least with her. But, I've heard that she'll even spread her legs for Old Spice or Hi Karate
Personally, I don't think Volpe will ever be better than an average player. Maybe I'm just used to the Yankees dismal record in producing star infielders over the past 30 years, excluding Jeter and Cano.
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