{"id":489703,"date":"2026-02-19T08:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489703\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:11:11","slug":"yankees-infield-notes-mcmahon-volpe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489703\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Infield Notes: McMahon, Volpe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Yankees intend to get\u00a0Ryan McMahon<\/a> some work as a shortstop this spring, manager Aaron Boone tells Greg Joyce of The New York Post<\/a> and other reporters. They\u2019ll evaluate whether they feel comfortable using him as a potential backup option during the early part of the regular season. Anthony Volpe<\/a> is beginning the season on the injured list after undergoing postseason labrum surgery. That draws utilityman\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Caballero<\/a> into the lineup at shortstop and leaves them without a clear backup at the position.<\/p>\n

Amed Rosario<\/a> has easily the most shortstop experience of any of their depth infielders. He was an everyday shortstop in Cleveland earlier in his career but struggled defensively and has mostly been pushed off the position. Rosario started 11 games there in 2024 and played all of two innings at the position last year. He\u2019s more of a second\/third baseman at this stage of his career, though his biggest appeal off the bench is his ability to hit left-handed pitching.\u00a0Max Schuemann<\/a> and\u00a0Oswaldo Cabrera<\/a> can cover shortstop but fit better at second or third base, while the out-of-options\u00a0Jorbit Vivas<\/a> has never started a professional game at short.<\/p>\n

McMahon\u2019s professional experience at shortstop consists of three innings for the 2020 Rockies. He didn\u2019t play there at all in the minor leagues. Listed at 6\u20192\u2033, 217 pounds and a below-average runner, he\u2019s clearly better suited for third base work. McMahon is an excellent defender at the hot corner, ranking second at the position in Defensive Runs Saved (after\u00a0Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes<\/a>) and third in Outs Above Average (behind Hayes and\u00a0Maikel Garcia<\/a>) over the last three seasons. His range would be stretched at shortstop, but he should have the hands and arm strength to make the routine plays.<\/p>\n

That might be all the Yankees would need to consider him for a temporary backup role. He\u2019d still see the vast majority of his time at third base. If they feel McMahon\u2019s a better fill-in at shortstop than Rosario, they could lift Caballero for a pinch-hitter in key spots and would be better protected in the event of an injury.<\/p>\n

That\u2019d also help the roster flexibility. Cabrera and Schuemann still have options remaining. They have three bench jobs committed between Rosario, Paul Goldschmidt<\/a> and a backup catcher (probably\u00a0J.C. Escarra<\/a>). Not needing to carry another shortstop would mean they could have Vivas break camp or consider keeping\u00a0Jasson Dom\u00ednguez<\/a> up as a fourth outfielder. If they want a true shortstop off the bench, they\u2019d probably need to select a non-roster invitee like\u00a0Braden Shewmake<\/a>,\u00a0Zack Short<\/a> or\u00a0Paul DeJong<\/a> onto the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n

Ideally, that\u2019ll all be a short-term arrangement. Volpe could return early in the season, pushing Caballero back to the super utility role for which he\u2019s tailor-made. The 24-year-old discussed his rehab with Bryan Hoch of MLB.com<\/a>, noting that he has begun a hitting progression but isn\u2019t at a point where he can risk diving for ground-balls. Volpe indicated he\u2019s not closing the door on making his season debut before April is out, though Hoch adds that GM Brian Cashman suggested a return in May is likelier.<\/p>\n

Volpe has been a below-average hitter in each of his first three seasons in the big leagues. He has shown 20-20 potential but with a subpar batting average and on-base percentage. He was out to a better start last year before suffering the shoulder injury in early May. Even if the offensive regression may have been coming regardless, the injury seemed to take a toll on the other side of the ball. The 2023 Gold Glove winner had a surprisingly poor season defensively. Caballero was the better player down the stretch, but the Yankees are hoping Volpe will more forcefully reclaim the starting job once he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Yankees intend to get\u00a0Ryan McMahon some work as a shortstop this spring, manager Aaron Boone tells Greg Joyce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[11000,64,63,591,16059,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-489703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-anthony-volpe","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-ryan-mcmahon","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}