What if Yankees Keep Aaron Boone Through 2027? Three Predictions

Anthony Volpe Has Turned it Around

I'm not even sure this is a hope fans have anymore, but when Volpe is healthy again, it's likely he'll return to the starting shortstop position for 2026. I know. And it's possible, once he recovers from his shoulder surgery, that Volpe could be the bat and defender the Yankees want him to be. It will be challenging for fans to trust him after the season he just had, but with the knowledge that he had been struggling with the injury since May, it is entirely possible that his issues were rooted in the pain and inconvenience of playing, as one fan put it, "with a shoulder made of string cheese."

Volpe, 24, and his challenges have been so intrinsically linked to Boone this season that his emergence in 2026 could lead fans to forgive Boone just a little bit. But even if Boone is out the door when his contract ends, it's entirely possible Volpe is the Yankees' starting shortstop in 2028.

Superstar Ben Rice is Showing Leadership Potential

Now I don't mean to alarm you, but Aaron Judge is getting ever so slightly older. This is something he is doing with every passing day, and it's entirely natural. That being said, Rice has the potential to emerge as a strong bat, defender and leader among the younger cohort on the Yankees. At the moment, Rice is 26, well-established and well-loved in New York. During the Yankees' summer slump, he was among the first voices against the party line that the season would fall into place naturally. Rice insisted that "a sense of urgency" would benefit the team, when no one else was speaking on it.

Rice also connects with the younger cohort from the Yankees' farm system, praising Cam Schlittler's work ethic and blue collar attitude, and celebrating how far he had come since their time in the minors. In early October, starting pitcher Max Fried praised Rice's development over the year, not long before the Yankees were eliminated.

"The growth that we've been able to see from Ben this year on the defensive side has been tremendous," Fried said.

Rice has been especially strong offensively, impressing current team captain Judge with this breakout season.

“When he gets a pitch to hit, he doesn’t miss it,” Judge said in September. “Even in situations where he may hit a homer in his first at-bat on a certain pitch, he’s talking with me, he’s talking with Big G [Giancarlo Stanton] about, ‘Hey, how do you think he’s going to attack me this next at-bat?’”

So by 2028, maybe we've all been killed by an asteroid. Or Rice might be making his way toward the Yankees' captain role. Only time will tell.

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!

• Yankees Fans Roast Vladimir Guerrero Jr. After Emotional Defeat
• Yankees Trail One Team in 2026 World Series Odds
• Yankees Should Be Cautious in Keeping Trent Grisham
• Should Yankees Reunite With Padres Pitcher?
• Yankees’ Gerrit Cole Shares Exciting Step in Tommy John Recovery