With the enormous caveat that it’s far too early to glean anything significant from player performances, there is a glimmer of hope on the Anthony Volpe front.
That’s for those of you like me, who are still fuming that the Yankees passed on Corey Seager or giving Oswald Peraza a 6-week run of regular PA in ’22 so we could watch Volpe be one of the worst hitters in MLB for two years. And no, that’s not an exaggeration. Since Volpe debuted in 2023, his 87 wRC+ is 105th out of 113 qualified batters over that span. Colorado’s Ezequiel Tovar is the only player to get as many PA as Volpe over the past three seasons and have a worse wRC+.
That said, Volpe is off to a good start in 2025 – but he was off to a great start last season, and we know how that ended up.
To be clear, anyone who watched Volpe last April and thought he “got it figured out” (Todd Frazier) or compared Volpe favorably to the best hitters in MLB (Karl Ravech) was quite simply not paying attention. Volpe last April did not have good at bats, did not hit the ball hard, and hit it mostly on the ground*.
(*After action on 4/11/24, Volpe had an 88.7 average exit velocity, a 53% ground ball rate, and a comical 2.9% barrel rate.)
Yet many of those batted balls – 44% in fact – turned into hits due to randomness and luck. His .460 OBP, .581 SLG, 199 wRC+ on April 12th last season was obviously not sustainable, so it was not a surprise to anyone who was paying attention when Volpe thudded back to earth for the rest of the 2024 regular season.
But things are a little different so far in 2025. Volpe is currently sitting on an average exit velocity of 90.7, a barrel rate of 17.1% and 58% of his batted balls have stayed off the ground. Furthermore, his pull rate is also up from this time last season.
Unlike last year however, Volpe hasn’t been the beneficiary of luck and randomness so far in ’25. In fact, despite posting good exit velocities and a high barrel rate, Volpe is currently sitting on a .258 BABIP, which is below the league average.
Again, to be clear, it’s far too early to take all this too seriously, and even with the above notes 2025 Anthony Volpe is not going to end the 2025 season with the 159 wRC+ that he’s currently sitting on. But it is something to keep an eye on – he’s good start this season is shaped differently than his good start in ’24 was. Hopefully we getting to the “he’s improving” part of the conversation that we’ve all been waiting over two years to have now.
The Yanks are scheduled to start at 3:05 pm today in the Bronx, weather permitting. If the rain holds off, Will Warren will toe the slab for the Pinstripes and hard throwing Jordan Hicks will take on the Yankees batters for San Francisco.
Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments, or yell at me on the “My Baseball Page” on Blue Sky.
Recommended reading: “Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig”.
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