“We knew Volpe could rise above them all,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said of the 21-year-old, whose presence in the Opening Day lineup signaled that the future is now in New York.
There was a conversation with Judge, who told Volpe to “make sure he had something for the Bleacher Creatures,” the rabid and coordinated fans in right-center who take roll in the first inning of every home game by chanting the names of each player in the field until that player acknowledges them in return.
Judge said the 21-year-old ran a few ideas by him, including a kiss of the NY logo on the Yankees’ pinstriped jerseys, like Judge did for dugout cameras after a postseason homer last October. Ultimately, that’s what Volpe did.Volpe finished his major league debut with a walk, a stolen base, and a solid defensive showing. Now comes the tough part.
The vetting process was unique by Yankee standards. Volpe was drafted in 2019. He lost the 2020 season to the pandemic. He hit .294 with a 1.027 OPS across two Class A levels in 2021, his first professional season. Last season, he hit .251 with an .820 OPS while spending most of the season at Class AA. He was bumped up to Class AAA in September, where he hit .236 with a .717 OPS over 22 games, not exactly the kind of showing that would suggest being a major league lock this spring.
“We knew IKF could defend it, we knew Peraza could take it and we knew Volpe could rise above them all,” Cashmanand others last week. “We all were open-minded to seeing how it would play out. Anybody watching can’t deny the fact that Anthony won that battle and he’s earned that shot.”
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