When it comes to young talent, many teams opt to give their players time to develop their skills before jumping to conclusions. This is especially true for hitting; but the question is, how much time is enough for a player to prove that they can be a solid hitter in the major leagues? That is one of the big questions currently hovering over the Yankees, as their young shortstop Anthony Volpe has found himself in yet another rut at the plate.
Volpe, about to turn 24, started off the season on a great foot, hitting four homers in the team’s first five games of the season. Since his last homer against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 2nd, however, his OPS has plummeted from 1.073 to .680. This isn’t the first time that he has found himself in an elongated slump, and based on his history, it likely won’t be the last.
Anthony Volpe Mired in Another Slump
Year 3 Woes
With two full seasons under his belt, many expected Volpe to finally take a big step with the bat in 2025. There’s a lot of season left to go, but as of now, he has not taken that step. At the same time, however, he hasn’t regressed much, if at all. After Wednesday’s 5-1 win against the Cleveland Guardians, in which Volpe found himself hitless for the second straight game, his batting average dropped to .198, which is arguably the only glaringly bad statistic on his ledger.
Despite having gone 6-for-43 in his last 12 games, Volpe has shown some positives, potentially hinting at better things to come throughout the rest of the season. Firstly, he has 15 RBI, putting him on pace to hit over 90 throughout a full season. Secondly, his walk rate has shot up from 6.1% in 2024 to 11.4% this season. Most notably though, he has significantly reduced his chase rate and has bumped his average exit velocity by over 3 mph. Essentially, he’s displayed vast improvement in plate discipline, even if the numbers barely show it.
Catching the Fastball
Far and away Volpe’s favorite pitch to hit is the fastball, against which (according to Baseball Savant) he is slugging .608. Particularly, he thrives off of sinkers and cutters, and all but one of his nine extra-base hits this season have come off fastballs. This preference isn’t exclusive to this year, either: 28 of his 37 career homers have come off fastballs, too. So, why is he all of a sudden struggling to hit the pitch that he’s been so good against?
The answer is simply unclear. Pitchers are still giving Volpe fastballs, he’s just not hitting them. In fact, ironically, Volpe is seeing the most fastballs he has seen yet in his career, with opposing pitchers throwing him heaters about 61% of the time. The young shortstop has gone through similar bouts like this in his career, so there’s a good chance he’ll bounce back sooner or later.
The Clock is Ticking
At this point, the Yankees have to be seriously questioning whether or not Anthony Volpe is their shortstop of the future. His defensive prowess makes him a much more well-rounded player, and it’s because of his fielding skills that he’s posted a brWAR of 6.7 over his first two seasons in the big leagues. Still, his lack of any sort of consistency at the plate is very concerning, and he has to get it going soon in order to silence the doubts that the team’s front office inevitably has. Things could be worse, though, and Volpe has still improved in many aspects of hitting so far this season. All he has to do to get back on his feet is to start hitting the fastball again.
