New York Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe has the green light to compete for a starting infield job during spring training. While most agree that Volpe will likely start the 2023 season in Triple-A with Scranton, he’s already showing flashes of the quality many have discussed over the years.
The young shortstop is one of the few prospects in the Yankees farm system considered untouchable.
Plenty of teams have tried to acquire Volpe over the years, trying to leverage weaknesses on the roster to land the Yankees’ top prospect. However, general manager Brian Cashman has stood firm as Volpe develops and continues to make a case for his MLB debut.
- Yankees’ super-utility man is seeing his numbers plummet back down to Earth
- Yankees’ $98 million slugger in the middle of another ice-cold stretch
- Yankees could see this interesting pitching prospect get an MLB promotion
In fact, on Thursday during live batting practice, Volpe went 3–3, roping a base hit to right field, showing off his contact-hitting qualities.
The Yankees have the luxury of not rushing Anthony Volpe:
Volpe is coming off of a season where he spent 106 games as the starting shortstop for Somerset in Double-A. He hit a collective .251 with a .348 OBP, 18 homers, and 60 RBIs with 44 stolen bases. Over 22 game sample size in Triple-A Scranton, he hit .236 with a .313 OBP, three homers, and five RBIs.
Looking at Anthony objectively, it normally takes him a few weeks to find his sea legs once being promoted to a new level. It wasn’t until two months after he joined Somerset that he began to adjust and produce at ridiculous levels. Scranton should prove to be a similar challenge unless he can force the hand of management to call him up immediately.
Unfortunately for Volpe, there are a few players standing in his way, notably Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Oswald Peraza, Josh Donaldson, and Gleyber Torres. Volpe has been working at multiple spots to expand his competitive advantage, but there are proven commodities at most of these spots.
The most likely scenario is that he will take over at second base, which would make Torres expendable and a potential trade piece this year. For now, Torres has the position locked up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Volpe is called up within the first two months of the regular season to begin the transition officially.