Yankees Have Reached the Definition of Insanity with Volpe

We all know the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.

To that end, this is the last time I’m going to ask, “What the hell is going on with the Yankees organization and Anthony Volpe?” because quite clearly, Anthony Volpe is going to be the Yankees everyday starting shortstop forever.

Let’s back up…

Spring, 2022: The Yankees pass on Corey Seager – a then 27-year-old, left-handed power hitting shortstop on a Cooperstown path – in large part because Volpe was waiting in the wings. The team hands the shortstop job to Isiah Kiner-Falefa as a stop gap. Seager has since hit 106 HR, won a second World Series MVP award, played in three All-Star games, and finished second in the ’23 MVP balloting to Shohei Ohtani.

Spring, 2023: Volpe, despite zero evidence that he was a better player in the minor leagues than Oswald Peraza (it would be easier to argue Peraza was better), is given the everyday starting shortstop job for the New York Yankees.

2023 season: Volpe swings for the fences, and swings at everything. Among the 134 players with enough PA to qualify for the batting title, Volpe is the second easiest hitter in MLB for pitchers to get out. But he’s a competent fielder at a premium position and a very good baserunner, so his bat gets a pass.

2024 season: Someone gets in Volpe’s ear and convinces him to cut down on the strikeouts and just tap the ball on the ground. A comically lucky BABIP in April partially masks that the idea was an abject disaster. An attempt to just make contact led to a glacially slow swing and Volpe couldn’t touch a fastball. (That’s a problem, because pitchers throw pretty hard in the show.) He again was among the worst hitters in baseball, but he was very good defensively and on the bases. We were told (again) if you have a good defender at a premium position who also provides value on the bases, we can deal with the lack of offense.

2025: Good news! Volpe stopped swinging at everything (88^th percentile chase rate), draws a good number of walks, and hits the ball significantly harder than he did in ’24. As a result, he’s become an essentially average hitter (103 wRC+), which, if one is a plus defensive shortstop and baserunner, that makes one a very valuable player.

Except…he’s not a plus defensive shortstop or baserunner anymore.

According to both Statcast and FanGraphs he’s been a below average defensive shortstop in 2025 , which is confirmed by the eyes of everyone who’s watched him ice skate around the position and throw lawn darts over to first base.

Also according to both Statcast and FanGraphs he’s been a below average baserunner among shortstops as well.

And yet, since his debut in 2023, only three players have played more games in MLB than Anthony Volpe. (Matt Olson, Bobby Witt Jr., and Marcus Semien – all exponentially better players than Volpe.)

All of this begs the question, “What are we doing Yankees?

Volpe was handed a job that he clearly was not prepared for, despite numerous extended struggles has never faced the possibility of losing his job or even getting a few days to rest, and instead has received 1,631 uninterrupted PA to figure things out. Meanwhile, Peraza – who again was arguably better in the minors than Volpe – has received 392 PA scattered over four years.

And if you want to say Peraza hasn’t exactly forced the issue when he has played, I get that. But he never received a fraction of the chance Volpe was gifted, and if you knew Volpe was your shortstop than Peraza should have been traded when he had significant value league wide.

The answer to the question is “it doesn’t matter, because we’re stuck with Volpe for better or worse”. It appears the Yankees have handcuffed themselves to a dead hooker and are just shrugging their shoulders because they have no reasonable explanation for being in this situation.

Again, there’s no reason to throw in the towel. But it’s quite clear the current path is not working and it’s time to change something.

Remember the definition of insanity?

Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments, or yell at me on the “My Baseball Page” on Blue Sky.

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