Anthony Volpe returned to his alma mater, Delbarton School, in his hometown of Morristown on Monday to host hundreds of players for his first pro camp.
The game was played at Brian E. Fleury Field, the same field where Volpe led Delbarton to a New Jersey state title just five years earlier.
“I was joking with my dad today, it looks a lot smaller than it did when I played here,” Volpe said.
But he’s hoping to have similar success in the Bronx this season. The Yankees continue their streak with a home game against the Angels on Tuesday before locking down a tough challenge to the Orioles for first place in the AL East.
A year ago, the Yankees were having their worst season in decades, finishing 11 games behind the Orioles in the division and 3.5 games out of the final AL wild-card spot.
Volpe had a strong rookie season, winning a Gold Glove as a shortstop and hitting 21 home runs, but it wasn’t the season he or the Yankees had envisioned when he earned the starting spot out of spring training.
With roughly eight weeks left in the regular season, Volpe and the Yankees seem well positioned to return to the playoffs, where the 23-year-old Volpe would make his postseason debut.
“Overall, we’re excited,” Volpe said. “We have really big ambitions.”
When asked about that, Volpe said, “Our goal is not to make the playoffs. It’s to win. That’s the standard. We think about it every day.”
For that to happen, Volpe will need to continue his recent play.
There has been much talk about Volpe’s improved performance since being removed from his leadoff hitter role, but his first 10 games since the move have not been great.
During that first period, he was just 5-for-37 at-bats with just two extra base hits, a double.
The real improvement came after the All-Star break.
In those 15 games, he has nine extra-base hits (five home runs, four doubles) and an OPS of 1.026.
“I’ve been working on some things since the offseason,” Volpe said of the adjustments he made after his rookie year as he tried to make more contact. “It was good to take a step back and some things fell into place.”
Whether he can avoid another significant drop-off in his hitting will be crucial in determining how deep the Yankees’ lineup will be behind Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.
Thanks to his continued strong play at shortstop, Volpe ranks third among Yankees position players in WAR behind Judge and Soto, according to Fangraphs.
This is also the result of disappointing performances from DJ LeMahieu, Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres, as well as further injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo.
Double-A Somerset outfielder Spencer Jones, who the Yankees rejected in a trade at the deadline, was named the Eastern League Player of the Week on Monday.
Oswaldo Peraza, who was a potential utility player for the Yankees before suffering a shoulder injury this spring, has been impressive in recent weeks with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Through June 27th, his OPS was just .597, but since then, his OPS has risen to .882.
