Anthony Volpe is halfway through the Yankees’ West Coast road trip and the 21-game hitting streak that earned him a spot on the All-Star team is gone.
But one doesn’t need statistics that put him on par with Joe DiMaggio to prove how Volpe has impacted the Yankees as he continues to make strides in his second year in the big leagues.
“He’s playing like a star on both ends of the floor,” coach Aaron Boone said. “He’s really becoming a special player.”
Pitchers Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were the main attraction for the Yankees, who entered Monday with a major league record of 7-2 and nine games in 10 days on a California road trip.
However, the hitters ahead of them continued to perform well, and Volpe was a consistent performer at the top of the lineup.
The 23-year-old shortstop finished the trip with a strong performance, going 2-for-5 and including a key RBI triple that helped the Yankees come from behind in the bottom of the ninth inning to win against the Giants on Sunday.
“I just wanted to get some good at-bats, hit the balls I could handle and pass them to Soto, Judge and the others,” Volpe said. “It’s a simple approach.”
It’s something that has paid off big time for Volpe.
Volpe is batting .324 with an .890 OPS and four triples in his last 25 games.
This season, he has played in 60 games, batting .284 with an OPS of .792.
He got off to a strong start over the first two-plus weeks, then his form dipped over the next three weeks, but he’s spent the better part of the last month putting up solid production for a well-formed lineup.
“He uses the whole field, that’s the biggest thing,” Judge said. “What I saw on tape when he was coming up in the minor leagues was gap to gap, a little bit of bounce to the pull side and the other way.
“This year we’ve finally seen that it doesn’t matter if it’s two strikes or the first pitch of the game. He’s hitting the ball up to center field, he’s hitting the ball up to right field, he’s doing it with guys on base.”
He gets the party started for us from the top.”
The Yankees already have two of the best players in baseball in Judge and Soto.
However, Volpe finished in the top 10 in fWAR through the first two-plus months of the season.
Judge was first with a 4.0 rating, Soto was second with a 3.9 rating and Volpe was eighth with a 2.8 rating, just behind Shohei Ohtani.
And Judge thinks there could be more to come.
“I think he’s still improving,” Judge said. “He’s getting even better as the season goes on, and I think he’ll continue to get better as he gets more at-bats. … When he uses the whole field and takes advantage of his speed, he becomes one of the best shortstops in the game. We’re lucky to have him and happy to have him batting for Juan and me.”
Though Volpe’s 21-game hitting streak was snapped on Thursday (he’s the second Yankee to record 20-plus consecutive games while under the age of 23, joining DiMaggio), he still holds the career-high streak of reaching base in 29 consecutive games, matched only by Judge.
And after winning a Gold Glove as a rookie last season, Volpe’s defense has only continued to improve.
In Wednesday’s win over the Angels, he made a diving play to his right and threw a one-bounce ball to Anthony Rizzo for the out, helping Luis Gil get through the inning.
“He’s really good,” Gil said through a translator. “If you look at him playing now, you see him in the box, he’s defending. It’s incredible. He’s doing everything right.”
