With three steals against the Twins in Game 3 of the series on Saturday, Anthony Volpe is now 6-for-6. Though the 21-year-old rookie shortstop refuses to admit that he is not “the quickest man on the team by any means,” this does not preclude him from being a big danger on the bases.
How does Anthony Volpe master the act
Anthony Volpe stole three bases in three attempts in the Yankees’ 6-1 victory against the Twins on Saturday, bringing his season total to 6-for-6. Volpe has reached base in 7 of his last 15 at-bats in the last four games.
At 21 years and 352 days, he became the youngest player in franchise history to steal three bases in a game. Anthony Volpe was the first Yankee to steal three bases in a game since Ichiro Suzuki did it in the second game of a doubleheader against Toronto on September 19, 2012.
“It’s something that I work on and a lot of the guys work on,” he said. “If there’s any opportunity in the game where we can find a window, I think everyone wants to take advantage of it.”
Anthony Volpe stole 44 bases in 110 games with Double-A Somerset last year and six bases in 22 games following his end-of-season promotion to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last year. He carried this to the spring and that has been the same in his brief time in the big leagues.
“He’s just a great baserunner,” Aaron Boone said. “Incredibly instinctive. Not a burner but a good runner who runs well. But he just does his homework [and] has really gotten really good at being under control while also being super-aggressive and working his momentum out there. He’s really good at it and he causes problems when he gets on the bases.”
Twitter rage against Volpe
After the New York Yankees’ 3-4 defeat to the Minnesota Twins, rookie star Anthony Volpe was seen beaming from ear to ear in his postgame interview. He had hit his first home run in that game and the historic milestone was worthy of celebration.
However, Patrick Hennessy, an MLB content creator, rushed to Twitter to voice his displeasure with Volpe’s manner.
“Unpopular opinion: Anthony Volpe smiling ear to ear in his postgame interview after the Yankees worst loss of the season really annoys me,” posted Patrick via his Twitter handle.
MLB podcaster defends Anthony Volpe
Jared Carrabis, a popular MLB podcaster who keeps up with all the news in baseball, felt he had to speak up for Anthony Volpe. So, he quoted Patrick’s tweet and indirectly said that Anthony Volpe was like Derek Jeter. But he definitely knew about it, saying that no one will ever be as good as Derek Jeter and that Volpe doesn’t have to be either.
“Jeter wouldn’t have smiled after a loss even if he just hit his first big league home run, but he was also a robot and one in a million. Yankee fans need to stop holding guys to the Jeter standard. They did it to Judge, too. Let them be who they are. Volpe’s 21, a lifelong Yankee fan and just hit his first big league homer as the Yankees’ starting shortstop. Smile away, kid,” wrote Jared in his tweet.
On Friday night, Anthony Volpe hit an incredibly long home run to left-center field off of Louie Varland. He became the first Yankees player to smash a lead-off home run in the major leagues since Bobby Richardson in 1959.
Honoring Jackie
All Yankees wore No. 42 on Saturday, as they do every year on Jackie Robinson Day. Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier on April 15, 1947, when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“He’s one of the most important figures in American history,” Boone said. “The fact that our sport is intimately intertwined with it is very cool. The fact that our sport gets to honor that and pay respect to that and shine a light on it is a great thing. It’s an honor to see everyone out there in that number with our T-shirts and our socks and everything. I think it’s a great thing for America and for our game.”
Latest on Donaldson
Josh Donaldson (hamstring) can come off the injured list on Sunday, but since the Yankees don’t play on Monday, the team could wait until Tuesday to activate him. This would give him two extra days to rest. Boone didn’t say that Donaldson wouldn’t be sent to the minors for rehab games when he talked before the game.
“We’ll have those conversations here today, tomorrow, the next day, whatever,” Boone said. “But physically he’s doing really well.”
Return of DJ
DJ LeMahieu returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing three consecutive games due to quadriceps stiffness. Starting at third and leading off, he went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
“We’ll obviously pay close attention to it,” Boone said. “But feel like he’s ready to go.”
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