Yankees Shortstop Becoming Criminally Underrated

Anthony Volpe was long lauded as a potential franchise cornerstone at shortstop while coming up through the New York Yankees' farm system, and though the ride hasn't always been smooth, he's arguably become one of baseball's most underappreciated players.

A lifelong Yankees fan who was selected in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft, Volpe set himself apart from the pack towards the beginning of his professional career.

No minor league games were played during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, but Volpe made up for lost time in 2021. In 109 contests and 513 plate appearances between Single-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley that year, he slashed .294/.423/.604 with 27 home runs, 86 RBIs and 33 stolen bases.

He was subsequently ranked as a top-15 prospect entering the 2022 season by MLB Pipeline (No. 8), Baseball America (No. 10) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 14). Volpe's numbers took a step back that year, batting .249/.342/.460 over a combined 596 trips to the plate with Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but he still earned a trip to the All-Star Futures Game while retaining his status as a premier farmhand.

Volpe, who was now viewed as the No. 5 overall prospect by Pipeline, made the Yankees' Opening Day roster in 2023 and remained with the big league club for his entire rookie campaign.

He finished the year with a disappointing .209/.283/.383 slash line, though he mashed 21 home runs and became the first Yankee to ever win a Gold Glove Award as a rookie.

Volpe's struggles with the bat continued in 2024, as he batted .243/.293/.364 with just 12 homers and an 86 wRC+ over 689 plate appearances, tied for the 14th-most of any player in the league.

He remained stellar defensively, however, closing the season with 14 Outs Above Average (OAA) and six Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in 1,416 2/3 innings at shortstop.

Additionally, his OPS jumped to .815 in the playoffs as the Yankees eliminated the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS and the Cleveland Guardians in the ALCS en route to their first World Series appearance since 2009.

Though New York lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic, Volpe has carried over his increased offensive output from the postseason into 2025.

Through 54 contests and 228 plate appearances thus far, he is slashing .246/.325/.442 with six home runs, 33 RBIs, seven stolen bases and a 116 wRC+, the 10th-highest mark among qualified shortstops thus far.

Volpe's improvements stem from consistently making better contact, as his barrel (10.3%) and hard-hit (47.6%) rates have jumped up from where they sat in 2024 at 3.9% and 34.9%, respectively.

Furthermore, his groundball percentage is down from 50.2 to 44.1 while his walk (10.1%) and chase (20.4%) rates are the best of his career by a sizable margin.

The 24-year-old's defense has remained strong as well, logging four DRS and one OAA in 474 innings.

Volpe's far from perfect, but he deserves a bit more respect for what he's providing on a nightly basis at one of the most important positions on the field. He's made considerable strides in his third season as a major leaguer, and he should only continue to grow from here on out.

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