Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
NEW YORK — It is no secret the Anthony Volpe has been struggling at the plate since he came up in 2023, but his struggles have gotten progressively worse over time, and the Yankees need to be proactive in fixing this issue, something they have not been yet.
After the Yankees 11-2 smackdown against the Nationals on Wednesday afternoon, you look in the box score and see that every other Yankee reached base at least once except for Anthony Volpe who carried an 0-5, including making two outs in the third inning alone.
It’s easy to say this is a bad stretch and that it’s “right in front of him”, but it’s more than a bad stretch, it’s historic now. In their defense, the Yankees did give him two days off to see if that could help straighten him out, but it didn’t. Volpe is 0 for his last 23 in his past 7 games with no walks and eight strikeouts. If the Yankees wanted that sort of performance out of the shortstop position, Oswald Peraza would still be on the roster, not serving up home runs to Rangers in a blowout.
The Yankees need to act now and do something because this can’t continue. Jose Caballero has been better than Volpe as of late and is much more valuable on the bases and as a defender. Volpe right now is a pinch-runner and possibly a defensive replacement, but he can’t be the everyday starter. The Yankees have said that they need to act with a sense of urgency and the time is now, well then it’s time to not start Volpe and do what is best for the team, and not one player.
Anthony Volpe will likely return in 2026 because the Yankees are not going to pay multiple shortstops to be on the roster, unless they trade Volpe in the offseason, but finding a team that would take Volpe might be difficult, and Volpe can improve, but until he does, he has done nothing to warrent being the starting shortstop for the Yankees any further.
The most important games are coming up for the Yankees, and winning needs to be the priority, and not someone’s feelings.