The New York Yankees are in a battle for first place in the American League East with the Toronto Blue Jays. They sit with a 56-46 record compared to Toronto’s 60-42, now four games back after a deflating series loss to the Jays. After losing the first game of the series 4-1, the Bombers came back for a needed victory in the second game before losing the finale. However, even that middle game wasn’t without its bumps.
Right smack in the middle of the game, Leo Jiménez hit a groundball to Anthony Volpe
at short with the Yankees leading 3-1. After Volpe fielded the routine grounder, he short-armed the ball, and first baseman Ben Rice was unable to secure it, awarding Toronto another tally on the scoreboard.
The Yankees holding on for the win. Still, the play marked a key point in the game and, more importantly, continued to raise concerns about Volpe. Manage Aaron Boone attempted to dispel them by saying it has only been a few plays here and there that have contributed to the negative talk around his shortstop’s play this season.
Aaron Boone says "a few plays" have created the negative narrative around Anthony Volpe's defense this season
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 22, 2025
"He's still a top shortstop." pic.twitter.com/VlikpajatS
Beginning his major league career at the age of 22, Volpe was pretty consistent in the shape of his overall production over his first couple of seasons. He managed to stay on the field, playing 159 and 160 games in his first two seasons, and he was a subpar hitter with above-average fielding. This was especially true last season, even though he was still an 87 wRC+ hitter, he managed 14 Outs Above Average according to Baseball Savant, more than enough to push his fWAR value to 3.5, almost double what he had in his rookie year.
However, this season has been a different story. While the hitting has been the same, sitting at an 87 wRC+ (with a lower batting average and OBP but higher slugging percentage), his fielding has kept his value below the 1.0 fWAR mark more than halfway through the 2025 season.
Volpe has the most errors of any American League shortstop, and, while errors are not a trustworthy statistic on their own, there’s more evidence to suggest that his fielding has not been what the Yankees need it to be. He sits at just 2 Defensive Runs Saved, 0.2 Deserved Runs Prevented, and a -3 Outs Above Average. It would be the first time in his career he finished below the average by Statcast’s measure. He has a negative value on all directional plays outside of when he moves in toward the ball.
Overall, Volpe’s fielding run value sits in the 29th percentile according to Baseball Savant, and his batting run value is in the 15th, making for a below-average player in every way. And despite Boone’s protests, it’s been more than just a couple bad plays. Here’s a sampling:
With Volpe in his last pre-arbitration year, there are, of course, talks about his future with the Yankees. While he likely won’t be a costly player in the first year of arbitration, giving the Yankees a valuable piece if he does turn it around next season, the team will need to decide what the future looks like for him. If they want to win a World Series and compete with teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, they could really use a shortstop they can rely on to at least play defense at a high level, as Volpe did to start his career, if not also hit at an above-average level consistently.
It’s essential to note that Volpe is still a young player. At just 24-years-old, he’s still not a finished product, but it’s not a surprise that the fanbase expected more this year, considering what Volpe was brought in to do from an even younger age. He was dubbed (maybe unjustly) the next long-term shortstop for the Yankees, and after his performance on the field last season, it seemed like there was only one more step to unlocking a player who would establish himself as one of the team’s key players. But, instead, there’s been serious regression in the area of his game that made him a valuable player in the lineup — even as he didn’t quite deliver with the bat.
What the rest of the season looks like for Volpe is hard to tell. And at this point, the future for Volpe with the Yankees is definitely just as murky if he’s unable to figure things out on defense.
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