New York Yankees star prospect Anthony Volpe has struggled to open the 2022 season, despite lofty expectations. The 21-year-old New Jersey native is currently hitting .207 with six homers and 24 RBIs over 48 games with Somerset in Double-A.
However, Volpe’s teammates continue to praise the certified elite prospect, despite his troubles making the transition to Somerset.
“He’s 21, but he acts like he’s 30,” teammate and road roommate Elijah Dunham said, via the NY Post. “It makes me mad sometimes because I’m like, ‘Dude, you gotta mess up once in a while,’ but he doesn’t. He’s just a great dude.”
Volpe takes his battles seriously, sometimes harping too much on being a perfectionist instead of simply rolling with the punches and learning from them. His tumultuous start to the campaign somehow dampened his stock, but there’s no question how valuable he is to his teammates.
“Some people might not say he’s living up to what you see on the scoreboard, but everyone on this team knows we wouldn’t be winning games without him,” Dunham said. “The way he plays at short, the way he runs the basepaths, he just brings value in different parts of the game that only baseball people see.”
Defensively, Volpe hosts a .963 fielding percentage over 398.2 innings. He has six errors and 18 double plays turned to his name during that sample size.
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Anthony Volpe is starting to hit his stride:
Over the past few games, Volpe has turned up the temperature, specifically in the month of June. The final three games of May were electric for the young shortstop, recording six combined hits over 15 at-bats. So far this month, he has curated seven hits in eight games, including one homer and two RBIs.
Volpe has the right mentality when it comes to facing cold streaks and overcoming challenges, noting the importance of learning from these experiences.
“One hundred percent, I think that’s just as important, if not more important, than going through the good times,” Volpe said. “It’s obviously really frustrating at times, and you want to be playing better and helping your team win. For me, that’s kind of the worst part of it. Even when you’re making good contact and make an out, you obviously want to be on base and contributing to the team.
Somerset manager Dan Fiorito pointed out how important it is for players to go through adversity and come out stronger on the other side. With the top team, slugger Joey Gallo is experiencing that reality now, having a far more productive June than the previous two months since the start of the year.
“To see guys go through adversity is so important, from position players to pitchers,” Fiorito said, per the NY Post. “When the game out there gets difficult, when the pressure is on the line or when they’re going through struggles themselves, to see what they’re really made of. That’s something that’s impressed me so much with Anthony. At 21 years old, with all the noise outside of the field, he handles it unbelievably. He just keeps pushing to get a little bit better every day.”