We’d probably all like to forget the Yankees’ soul-crushing loss on Sunday against the Mets. That being said, there were several moments that can be remembered in a positive light, including Anthony Volpe’s first hit of the 2026 campaign — a two-out double off Freddy Peralta in the second inning. Volpe arguably had a pair of more impactful plate appearances later in the game, driving in two with a sixth inning single and fighting back from 0-2 down to draw a bases loaded walk in the seventh, however
the approach Volpe showed in his first AB will serve him well if he can maintain it, and merits analysis in this week’s installment in this series.
Peralta seemed to be extra amped for his start against the crosstown rivals, his fastball coming in about two mph above his season average during the first turn through the order. He starts Volpe with a first-pitch four-seamer at 96 mph, he and catcher Luis Torrens looking to jam Volpe up and in.
Peralta executes this pitch perfectly to his spot and all Volpe can do is fight it off foul. Last year, among the many issues for Volpe included being too passive against pitches in the zone, particularly fastballs early in counts. It’s at least some bit of progress to be offering at a pitch like this, if for no other reason than being evidence of good pitch recognition and strike zone awareness.
With the muscle memory of the previous pitch execution, Peralta looks to throw the exact same pitch here.
Instead, he gets his release point all wrong and sails this one above the zone at head height, making for an automatic take from Volpe.
Now that he has shown Volpe two straight fastballs, the second resetting Volpe’s eye level up, Peralta now sees if he can get him to chase a slider off the plate low and away.
Oh man, Volpe missed an absolute cookie here — a cement mixer slider right down the middle. This is just not a good swing from Volpe, his front side bailing out early as he guesses fastball, and he’s in nowhere near the right hitting position to do anything but foul this very hittable pitch back and out of play.
After his previous mistake went unpunished, Peralta doesn’t dare throw another mistake slider. Instead, he goes back to the fastball, now attempting to climb the ladder above the zone for the strikeout swinging.
Once again, Peralta is wild with his release, spraying this four-seamer up and in and not close enough to the zone to entice Volpe to chase.
That’s now two fastballs and a slider where Peralta cannot find the right release. Perhaps that is why he opts for a changeup here — a dangerous pitch to a same-handed hitter if you can’t bury it below the zone.
Indeed, we see exactly what happens when you can’t get a changeup low enough to a same-handed hitter — it turns into a batting practice fastball when thrown in the zone. Volpe sends it right back the way it came, driving this pitch to the wall in left-center for a double, the first hit of his season.
Here’s the full AB:
Volpe entered this game hitless, but with a robust .455 OBP in his first three games thanks to drawing five walks in his first 11 plate appearances of the year. Following his two hits and four times on base on Sunday, he’s got a 188 wRC+ and 43.8-percent walk rate — obviously a minuscule sample size that doesn’t provide conclusive evidence, but still offers an optimistic outlook on his process to open his campaign.
This AB alone provides a ton of encouragement when it comes to Volpe’s approach to the plate. Volpe struggled to control the strike zone last year, letting hittable pitches go by while also chasing junk off the plate. It’s why he found himself 0-2 in so many spots last year, taking an early in-zone fastball for a strike and then trying too hard to make up for it by chasing a breaking pitch out of the zone. There seems to be a concerted approach to to improve that area of his game. Including this contest, Volpe has an in-zone swing rate of 74.1-percent and a chase rate of 12.5-percent, both massive improvements of his career marks of 65.6-percent and 27.2-percent, respectively. In this AB, he swung at all three pitches in the zone and didn’t chase the two out of it. As simple as it sounds, swinging at strikes and taking balls is a big part behind the impressive walk rate he has posted so far.
Finally, I feel this encounter highlights a mid-AB adjustment from early in the count to a two-strike approach. I’ve taken screenshots of the moment right after contact on Volpe’s swings against the 1-1 slider he fouled back vs. the 2-2 changeup he barreled for the double, both offspeed pitches in the exact same location.
In the lefthand image, his swing on the mistake slider, you can see how open his front hip is and how all of his momentum is traveling toward third base. This is because he’s trying to make room for his top half to get the bat head out early as he tries to pull the ball in the air. Contrast that with the righthand image, the swing that produced the double, and you can see how he’s keeping his weight back an extra tick and letting the ball travel, and then when he does swing, his momentum is traveling forward toward the pitcher as he goes with more of an up the middle approach. It’s way early, but this improvement in his swing decisions and the employment of a two-strike approach makes me excited to watch Volpe play for the first time in a long time.
