At long last, it appears Anthony Volpe is turning a corner for the New York Yankees.
Though the Yankees fell in disappointing fashion to the Miami Marlins by a score of 13-12 on Friday night, they may have never been in position to win without Volpe's late-game production.
In the top of the eigth inning with the Bronx Bombers down 10-9, the 24-year-old shortstop launched a 421-foot solo home run to left field off Marlins right-hander Lake Bachar to tie the contest.
During the ninth, Volpe followed up Ryan McMahon's go-ahead RBI single with a run-scoring double to center field that extended New York's lead to 12-10.
While things unraveled in the bottom of the ninth for the Yankees, Volpe did everything he could to try and will the club to a victory at loanDepot Park.
His 4-for-5 performance came two days after he blasted a game-tying, ninth-inning solo homer vs. the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night that was eventually followed by an extra-innings victory for New York.
“Now he’s starting to see some results,” manager Aaron Boone said on Friday, per MLB.com's Mike Lupica.
A lot has been made about Volpe's struggles defensively, and rightfully so. He became the only player in Yankees franchise history to win a Gold Glove Award as a rookie in 2023 and posted 14 Outs Above Average (OAA) in 2024, ranking in the 97th percentile according to Baseball Savant.
This season, however, Volpe leads the league in errors with 16 while recording -6 OAA up to this point.
If he can make up for the sudden dip in his defensive production with increased offensive output, however, than perhaps the Yankees could live with that payoff.
Volpe was slashing .280/.315/.720 over his prior 15 games heading into Saturday, and New York certainly hopes there's more where that came from.
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