{"id":618296,"date":"2026-03-11T10:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T10:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/618296\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T10:18:17","slug":"can-anthony-volpe-rebound-for-the-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/618296\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Anthony Volpe rebound for the Yankees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh, Anthony Volpe. Once one of the most promising position player prospects the Yankees have produced in recent years, and a feel-good story of the local kid making the team out of spring training back in 2023, Volpe\u2019s penchant for long periods of futility has turned him into one of the most polarizing players on the roster. Hell, it might not even be fair to call Volpe polarizing, as it\u2019s hard to find many members of the fanbase that aren\u2019t fed up with his production as the starting shortstop at this point.<\/p>\n

And yet, in spite of it all, it still sounds as though that the starting job is Volpe\u2019s once he\u2019s able to return this season. Odds are, he\u2019ll get another chance to establish himself as a big-league caliber hitter. Since all signs point to another run with Volpe at short, what are the odds of a significant bounce back?<\/p>\n

I use the word significant here because I think most reasonable observers would allow that some bounce back should be expected from Volpe, if only because he was so bad for so long in 2025 that at least a tiny improvement seems inevitable. But what about a real improvement, one that brings the Yankees closer to contending thanks to the emergence of an average-or better-player at shortstop in the form of a healthy Volpe?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure the gut reaction for some will be simple: no chance. But let\u2019s be optimists for a moment. Perhaps the most frustrating part of Volpe\u2019s 2025 campaign was revealed after the season, as it came out that the infielder had played through a torn labrum<\/a> that needed to be surgically repaired. Volpe injured his shoulder in early May, and before that injury, he was playing some of the best baseball of his career. He was slashing .239\/.333\/.453 and looked about as good on defense in April as he did during his first two seasons, putting him on pace for a career year in the early going.<\/p>\n

Of course, Volpe got hurt, and looked like one of the worst regular starters in the bigs for a solid four-month stretch, posting a .628 OPS from May 3rd until the end of the season while playing sloppy defense. So, the question of whether a notable rebound lurks comes down in large part to whether you believe that better health will lead to much improved form from Volpe. It\u2019s easy to argue that a shoulder ailment serious enough to warrant surgery after the season was a major factor in Volpe\u2019s struggles, but Volpe himself has downplayed the impact the injury had, and one could point out that the injury was to his non-throwing shoulder for evidence that his defensive regression wasn\u2019t health related.<\/p>\n

If I had to guess, my bet is that a return to health will help Volpe return to something resembling his 2023\/2024 performance, but that that won\u2019t be enough to assuage the concerns so many fans and analysts have about his present and future as a player. What do you think? Is there a fair chance of a real bounce back from Volpe? Or will the Yankees still just be spinning their wheels with their former top prospect?<\/p>\n

Today on the site, John will recap Tuesday night\u2019s WBC action, and Michael will preview Austin Wells\u2019 upcoming campaign. Later, Maximo will look at the Cincinnati Reds as part of our 2026 MLB Preview, and John will deliver the latest Making the Team Meter, taking a look at how the Yankees\u2019 few positional battles are playing out so far. Also, Matt wishes a Happy Birthday to a player who had a great, short run in New York, Bobby Abreu.<\/p>\n

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays<\/p>\n

Video: YES, Gotham Sports App, MLBN (out-of-market only), Sportsnet 360<\/p>\n

Venue: George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, FL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oh, Anthony Volpe. Once one of the most promising position player prospects the Yankees have produced in recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,4,1690,62,2548,2547,7660,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-618296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-yankees","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkyankees","14":"tag-pinstripe-alley-discussions","15":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116210034745703617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}