BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — The Yankees are winning. The lineup is clicking. But Anthony Volpe, the shortstop the organization once pinned its future on, is playing in Double-A on Sunday.
Not because he had to. Because the Yankees let it come to this.
That is the uncomfortable reality facing the 25-year-old as his 20-day minor league rehab assignment reached its final stretch. On Saturday, May 2, Volpe suited up for the Somerset Patriots against the Portland Sea Dogs. The Patriots won 11-0. Volpe went 1-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and a run scored.
One moment stood out. The Somerset Patriots account on X captured it plainly: Volpe crushed an RBI single up the middle on the ninth pitch of an at-bat, 103 mph off the bat.
The crowd at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater took notice. So did the rest of the baseball world watching online. But the question hanging over everything is whether the people who matter most, the Yankees front office and manager Aaron Boone, took notice too.
Boone keeps his cards close
The rehab clock for Volpe runs through Sunday. After that, the Yankees must make a decision. They can activate him onto the 26-man roster, or option him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Prior to the Sunday’s Orioles game, the question came up before Boone. He was straightforawrd in his answer that no decision reached yet.
“We’ll get through today and talk through that,” the Yankees manager told.
Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News put it plainly on May 1: “Volpe’s 20-day rehab clock runs through Sunday, and the Yankees would then have to activate him or option him.”
Boone has been careful with his words. When reporters pressed him on why the Yankees did not recall Volpe ahead of the Orioles series, a series Volpe technically could have been available for, Boone acknowledged the obvious.
The manager addressed the decision directly after being asked why the Yankees held Volpe back while Caballero continued to start every day.
“We’ll kind of reevaluate where we are after Sunday,” Boone said. “I don’t think it hurts to have some more runway for him. Caby’s obviously playing very well for us. So I just want it to be a situation where we’re giving Anthony every chance to come in and be successful but also taking note of what’s going on with our club, as well.”
Read that again. The manager of the Yankees just said, in so many words, that the guy filling Volpe’s spot is doing the job well enough that a change is not urgent.
The numbers behind the Caballero problem
Here is where this gets complicated for Volpe.
Jose Caballero came into this season as a question mark. He was a career .232/.316/.364 hitter, best suited to a super-utility role jumping around the diamond. Nobody penciled him in as the Yankees’ everyday shortstop when the season began.
Then Volpe went on the injured list. And Caballero did not simply hold down the fort. He took over and is refusing to give up.
As of early May, Caballero leads all shortstops in defensive runs saved. He has already hit four home runs on the year, one short of his total output from all of last season. Yankees beat writer Bob Klapisch noted that Caballero had been putting in extra work during batting practice, working specifically on unlocking more power from his swing. The results were showing up in the box score.
For Volpe, the last full season in the majors ended at .212/.272/.391 across 153 games. He posted 19 home runs and 72 RBI, but the defensive metrics slipped and the offensive consistency was never there. He was batting well before a shoulder injury sent him to the IL last May, which adds a layer of sympathy to his situation but does not change what Boone has to weigh right now.
The Yankees, sitting at 22-11 through 33 games and atop the American League East, are not a team eager to tamper with momentum.
Fans react, and they are divided
Social media made clear that Yankees fans are watching every pitch Volpe takes in Somerset.
After the RBI single, one fan account posted: “That’s a man that wants his job back.” Another insisted Caballero belongs on the bench: “Caballero can hit .280 on the bench.” A third offered a middle path, asking whether the Yankees could recall Volpe and shift Caballero to third base, where Ryan McMahon has been a pricey defensive replacement.
The line tracking Volpe’s minor league work added useful context. Across 12 games in the minors, he is batting .275 with one home run, six RBI, four walks and nine strikeouts. He has gone 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts. The numbers are solid without being spectacular, which mirrors the challenge of his whole career.
He is good enough to play. The question is whether he is good enough to play instead of someone who is playing even better right now.
What the Yankees are likely to do
The Yankees have options. They could recall Volpe and keep both him and Caballero active, shifting usage based on matchups. They could option him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and give him a longer runway before a meaningful return.
Most observers expect the Yankees to bring Volpe back to the roster. Outright optioning him would send a damaging message to a former top-50 prospect who won a Gold Glove in his rookie season and who, as recently as last spring, looked like a legitimate piece of the Yankees’ long-term picture.
But recalling him is not the same thing as handing him his shortstop job back. Boone all but confirmed that much.
Volpe knows what is at stake. That 103-mph missile up the middle on a full-count, nine-pitch battle was not an accident. It was a statement. Whether it is enough to change the calculus in the Bronx remains to be seen.
The Yankees make their decision on or after Sunday. Then everyone will find out what they actually think of Anthony Volpe.
What do you think? Can Volpe avoid the Yankees decision to demote him?
