NEW YORK \u2014 James Rowson, the Yankees hitting coach, was asked the question at the center of shortstop Anthony Volpe\u2019s struggles: After three seasons in the big leagues, why can\u2019t he have any consistency at the plate?<\/p>\n
The Yankees say that\u2019s the next step in Volpe\u2019s growth. When that happens, there won\u2019t be any questions about whether or not he should be the shortstop of the present and future. There\u2019s one problem, though.<\/p>\n
The Yankees have no idea why Volpe\u2019s offense mirrors the results of an electrocardiogram.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard question to answer, to be honest with you,\u201d Rowson said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say why it hasn\u2019t been there because I can tell you that it hasn\u2019t been for a lack of the way he gets after it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is really no real answer to say, \u2018Hey, this is specifically why this guy is inconsistent. Sometimes you say that when a guy\u2019s work is inconsistent, but there\u2019s nothing inconsistent about the way he works.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time since his debut in 2023, Volpe did not start back-to-back games. Manager Aaron Boone said Volpe will be back in the lineup at shortstop on Tuesday against the Washington Nationals. Boone added that he views Volpe as the club\u2019s shortstop moving forward. These two games off were viewed as a \u201creset\u201d that hopefully \u201cserves him well down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means the Yankees need to get Volpe right if he\u2019s going to be a key part of their roster.<\/p>\n
Since his debut, no hitter with at least 1,500 plate appearances has been less effective at the plate than Volpe with his 85 wRC+. In his first two seasons, the Yankees could fall back on Volpe\u2019s glove to inflate his daily value to the club. He won a Gold Glove in his rookie season and was a finalist last year. This year, his glove has significantly regressed, while his offense has not improved, resulting in him becoming one of MLB\u2019s least effective everyday players.<\/p>\n
Inside the clubhouse, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Volpe\u2019s middle infield partner, said his teammate hasn\u2019t made any excuses for how he\u2019s performed. He\u2019s been impressed with Volpe\u2019s ability to keep his head down and drown out the boos he\u2019s heard over the past week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to be a New York Yankee, especially when you\u2019re struggling a little bit because the fans are kind of rough out here,\u201d Chisholm said. \u201cThey let you know that they want to win. We got to go out there and do it for them every day. I feel like he\u2019s handling it like a grown man. We have to remember that he\u2019s only 24. He\u2019s gonna learn more stuff over time. He\u2019s already had success, and he\u2019s gonna find his way back to that. I wouldn\u2019t say he\u2019s super struggling. He\u2019s got 18 home runs as a shortstop. That\u2019s sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to be a New York athlete, but that\u2019s what makes it better. People care here. You\u2019d rather be in a city where people care than be in a city where they don\u2019t. The highs can be higher basically than anywhere else, but the lows really can be rock bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Volpe made the team out of spring training in 2023, it was mainly because the organization believed he would be a good hitter. The Yankees had a reason to believe in Volpe\u2019s offensive potential. He had an .881 OPS across three years in the minor leagues, and his high on-base percentage paired with his power made him the Yankees\u2019 No. 1 prospect. However, over the course of three years in the majors, Volpe has been unable to stick with an approach that works for him.<\/p>\n
In his rookie season, Volpe showcased his pull-side power, but he didn\u2019t make enough contact to his liking. That led Volpe to abandon his power approach for a flatter bat path and a more contact-oriented swing, leading to suboptimal results.<\/p>\n
This year, Volpe\u2019s been a mixture of the two seasons, oscillating between a power and contact approach that has led to inconsistent results. Rowson pushed back on the notion that Volpe\u2019s behind-the-scenes work on his swing isn\u2019t leading to results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would disagree that it hasn\u2019t translated,\u201d Rowson said. \u201cI would agree, though, that it\u2019s been inconsistent over times. We\u2019ve seen it translate and be really good. It\u2019s just a matter of holding on to it. Can we hold on to that for 60 days? Can we hold on to that for 90 days? We\u2019re looking at how long can we hold on to that hot streak, not necessarily whether or not the swing works. It\u2019s whether or not we can continue to do it over a longer period of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about if he can perform at the major-league level; we\u2019re simply talking about how consistently we can do that. I think that\u2019s a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowson is confident Volpe will become a consistent major leaguer because of the commitment to his craft behind the scenes. He has previously said no one works harder than Volpe, but shouldn\u2019t the lack of consistency be a concern if that\u2019s true?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it\u2019s concerning when a guy works that hard and I\u2019ve never seen it on the field,\u201d Rowson said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen it. So, I guess it\u2019s the hitting coach in me. I live in a world of failure. I think, and rightfully so, and I understand where people get anxious, right? You\u2019re looking for success every night. I live in a world of failure. There\u2019s never been a successful hitter in the history of the game because no one\u2019s hit over .500 for a season.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s just how much level of non-success have you had? I don\u2019t get overly worried about him, because I feel like everything is there for him in terms of being a quality major-league player.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only profile that has worked for Volpe on any level is the one he had in the minors, where he displayed his pull-side power. However, Volpe has gotten away from that over the past two years. This season, he ranks 217th out of 252 players in pull air percentage. Boone said he doesn\u2019t care what kind of hitter Volpe becomes long-term as long as he\u2019s productive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think sometimes people want him \u2014 because he\u2019s a shortstop with speed \u2014 he\u2019s got to hit for a certain average and do certain things,\u201d Boone said. \u201cProductive offensive players come in many shapes and forms. He\u2019s got a lot of ability. He\u2019s shown a lot of flashes of that. I think the next thing for Anthony is the consistency part in limiting some of the peaks and valleys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Yankees view Jos\u00e9 Caballero, who has started in place of Volpe at shortstop over the past two games, as more of a \u201c10th man.\u201d His value is in his ability to play multiple positions. There\u2019s no question that Caballero has been more productive since the trade deadline than Volpe.<\/p>\n
However, as of now, the Yankees don\u2019t plan on there being any competition between the two players. They are relying on blind faith that Volpe, near the end of his third season in the big leagues, will magically discover a fix at the plate despite not being able to diagnose the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m truly not concerned in terms of whether or not Anthony Volpe is going to be a productive major-league hitter at this level,\u201d Rowson said. \u201cI completely believe that he is. And I believe that the spurts of him going good over time will continually last longer and longer until, at some point, it\u2019s a non-story. But when that day is, I don\u2019t have the crystal ball to tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo: Ishika Samant \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 James Rowson, the Yankees hitting coach, was asked the question at the center of shortstop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,3980,82],"class_list":["post-98951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}