New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe is entering his third season in the Major Leagues with a little bit of pressure. Sure, he had his moments offensively in year two, but he knows he needs to do more if he wants to carve out a long career at the MLB level.
With spring training underway, the 23-year-old has an idea of who he is as a hitter and what he can be.
“I just want to take care of the strike zone a lot more,” Volpe said, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “When I do that, I feel like I can impact the ball a lot better and just take my natural swing, which I feel like plays [in the Majors]. But when I get too big or too outside the strike zone, no one hits those pitches.”
Volpe’s plate discipline numbers from last year seem to show room for improvement. He makes contact in the strike zone right around the league average, going along with a league-average contact rate and swing percentage outside the strike zone. However, his contact rate on those pitches was just 61.8% last year, well below what FanGraphs uses as a league baseline of 66%.
“Going through two full seasons seeing all the pitchers and how they want to attack me, you build a pretty good database,” Volpe continued. “Being able to tap back into those things and use the things I’ve learned and am working on, I’m really excited.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone gives Anthony Volpe vote of confidence
While Volpe’s offense has fluctuated, the shortstop won a Gold Glove as a rookie and Baseball Savant pegged him at 14 outs above average in his sophomore season.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone expects his hitting to soon match his fielding.
“I think his offense will eventually catch up with his defense,” Boone said. “He’s clearly had his ups and downs offensively. The first two years of his career have shown me what he’s capable of. He’s coming off a postseason offensively that was what you envision him being. I think that’s just him maturing as a hitter, maturing in his mechanics.”
Volpe hit .286 over 49 postseason at bats. His lone playoff home run could have propelled him into Yankees legend status had the team not blown Game 5 of the World Series. In the previous game, with the Yankees down 2-1 and starring down a sweep against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Volpe hit a grand slam to put New York ahead. The Yankees rode that to victory, prolonging their season.
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