Man proposes, and the baseball god disposes. While the Yankees seemed content to let former top prospect Anthony Volpe re-discover himself with Triple-A Scranton, an injury to incumbent shortstop José Caballero means that Volpe is heading back to the major-league roster. Cabby was sent back to New York for secondary screening on a finger on his right hand yesterday, and now one of the sparkplugs for this Yankee team will see time on the IL.
Caballero was on pace for a four-win season at the time of
his injury, with a 105 wRC+, 13 stolen bases and a +2 FRV fielding value per Statcast. He also seems to be a bit of a pest to play against, already costing opposing pitchers multiple clock violations with his personal style of gamesmanship in the batter’s box. In totality José has been as valuable in 41 games than Volpe was in 153 games last season, and critically a notably better hitter.
For Volpe, he has an opportunity to re-establish himself as a key piece of the franchise, even if his .570 OPS while in Double and Triple-A this season leaves a lot to be desired. With the Yankees hitting a speed bump after a great first six weeks of the year, the pressure is on the still-25-year-old to hit the ground running and help stop this little skid his club is on. While I want Tony Fox to succeed as a fan of the team, nothing in his performance over the last 14 months makes me overly confident that the team is upgrading with the recall.
For those curious, top infield prospect George Lombard Jr. is only 6-for-30 with all singles since being promoted to Triple-A. If he had been scalding the ball, this might have been a more interesting decision, but the Yankees weren’t pushed, so they’re simply recalling Volpe.
