Anthony Volpe was supposed to be the next great Yankees homegrown shortstop. Four years into his big league career, the numbers tell a different story. A .246 career average. Fifty-four errors. A .970 fielding percentage that ranks near the bottom among regular shortstops. The 25-year-old has been a net negative on both sides of the ball, and anyone watching the Yankees on a nightly basis can see it.
On Wednesday, Derek Jeter showed up on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio and did something he rarely does: he talked bluntly about a current Yankee. Jeter made it clear the front office isn’t giving up on Volpe. But he also made it clear there’s a difference between developing a player and watching him sink.
“I think as a young player, it’s obvious the Yankees have made a commitment to Anthony, right,” Jeter said. “They’re committed to him. But they’re not also committed to him being the shortstop. They’re committed to allowing him to continue developing at the major league level.”
That last line is the one worth chewing on. Jeter didn’t say Volpe is the Yankees’ shortstop of the future. He said they’re committed to letting him develop in the majors. That’s a hedge. That’s a front office hedging its bets on a former top prospect who hasn’t lived up to the billing.
Jeter admits he has no relationship with Volpe
Then Jeter dropped a detail that caught host Adam Schein completely off guard. Jeter said he doesn’t have a relationship with Volpe. At all. They haven’t talked. There’s no mentorship going on between the Yankees’ all-time great shortstop and the guy wearing pinstripes at the same position right now.
Schein didn’t let that slide. “He has no relationship with him? Hey Anthony, you wanna pick up the phone and call Derek Jeter? He’d return the call. He’d text you back. That’s one red flag.”
Is it a red flag? Maybe. Volpe came up through a system where Jeter is basically a monument. You’d think a young shortstop would at least reach out. But Jeter also isn’t the kind of guy who hangs around the clubhouse. He owns a piece of the Marlins and has his own life. It’s not his job to coach the next guy up. Still, the fact that there’s zero connection between the two feels like a missed opportunity for both sides.
Volpe’s bat and glove have both been problems
Volpe has 53 home runs and 77 stolen bases over four seasons, so the tools are there in flashes. But consistency has been a ghost. He’s striking out at roughly league average rates while posting a .342 on-base percentage that looks decent on paper but hasn’t translated into game-changing production. The errors are the loudest problem. Fifty-four of them in four years is a lot for a guy who was drafted 30th overall because his glove was supposed to be ahead of his bat.
The Yankees are in a weird spot. They’re not bad enough to tank and not good enough to just let a player figure it out at their expense. Volpe is still only 25. There’s time. But time moves faster in New York, and Jeter’s comments suggest the front office is already thinking about what happens if Volpe doesn’t turn it around.
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