The only thing true New Yorkers love more than an outright superstar is a scrappy underdog who finds a way to succeed despite setbacks, disappointments, and utter failures. As the 2026 MLB season approaches, the New York Yankees could greatly benefit from one of their most ridiculed players experiencing a bounce-back season for the ages.
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe has struggled mightily since his rookie campaign in 2023, which saw him bring home a Gold Glove award. Despite showing flashes of excellence in the 2024 postseason and select moments of electricity in 2025, the 24-year-old has not been able to provide the kind of consistency that fans and pundits initially expected when he burst onto the scene.
Volpe played through a torn left labrum last season. While he will miss the beginning of the upcoming year, a renewed commitment to forming an identity at the plate and better defensive results could help win back those who are already hoping that Jose Caballero or anyone else will be the team’s long-term starting shortstop.
“I believe in Volpe,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com last month. “And when he comes back, I still believe everything that we felt about him before his surgery. I’m happy we have Cabby as well. The game separates the men from the boys, and dictates who should and shouldn’t be playing over the course of time.”
Anthony Volpe must form a distinct offensive identity
Every player would love to bring a perfect mix of contact at the plate, but Volpe no longer has the luxury of being below average in each department. Across 153 contests in 2025, the former first-round pick slashed 212/.272/.391 and recorded a .663 OPS while hitting 19 home runs and earning 72 RBIs. In doing so, he posted career-highs in terms of both home runs and RBIs, but was not particularly efficient when it came to simply getting on base.
According to Baseball Savant, Volpe ranked in the third percentile in Batting Run Value, the 24th percentile in terms of strikeout rate, and just the 36th percentile in terms of walk percentage.
It is unlikely that Volpe will ever pose a major power threat, but his speed and athleticism could make him a dangerous contact hitter if he chooses to lean into such an identity. While the New York native did not work many walks or avoid strikeouts, he flexed skills that may lend themself to a player whose sole purpose is to serve as a catalyst.
He ranked in the 76th percentile in chase rate, the 82nd percentile in Baserunning Run Value, and the 76th percentile in Sprint Speed. If the righty can work to avoid strikeouts, generate more walks and hits, and become more aggressive on the bases, the Yankees’ more powerful bats will be instantly placed in more advantageous situations. Instead of attempting to be a jack-of-all-trades, the youngster must embrace his strengths.
“He’s had a lot of success offensively, but he’s obviously had a lot of valleys, too,” Boone said. “The challenge for us and for him is going to be to shore up those things to make him more consistent.”
Anthony Volpe must play sound defense
Offensive production was certainly a topic of discussion, but Volpe’s defensive woes became the most noticeable aspect of his season as 2025 progressed. He recorded 19 errors, and was tied with Boston Red Sox veteran Trevor Story for the third-most among shortstops.
The advanced metrics were not much better. He ranked in the 17th percentile in Fielding Run Value and just the eighth percentile in terms of range.
“For the noise around him this year and the struggles he went through defensively in the middle of the season,” Boone said, “I think it’s really important to know how good he was the final two months, which is more in line — defensively speaking — with who he’s been these first few years.”
Above all else, Volpe must play a clean shortstop in 2026. If he cannot be a massive contributor on offense, he must at least ensure that he won’t hold the unit back with defensive miscues. Although it would be fair to assume that the organization is hoping for far more.
“Sometimes this [trajectory] isn’t linear,” Cashman told Greg Joyce of the New York Post after the Yankees’ season ended. “It’s also not guaranteed, and that’s why it’s fair to always assess what you have and is it good enough, do you need to replace it, can you find better? That, I promise you, always takes place.
“But I believe in the player. I think we believe in the player. I think the injury probably contributed to the performance season he wound up having more so than we would have thought, based on our intimate involvement with him and our medical staff and how that played out. The facts are the facts.”
It is evident that Volpe’s career has not blossomed the way he or the Yankees had hoped, but it is not too late for the homegrown product to make impactful adjustments and author a comeback fit for Broadway.
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