NEW YORK — Anthony Volpe spent most of 2026 losing the certainty that once defined his place with the Yankees. He lost his everyday grip on shortstop. He spent part of August and September at Triple-A. He returned to the majors at second base, later started at third and entered October without the positional identity that followed him from prospect status to Yankee Stadium.
Now another change has arrived at a telling moment.
Volpe recently hired Scott Boras and Boras Corporation to represent him, according to reports Tuesday. The move came just as the Yankees opened their Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox and months before Volpe enters another salary-arbitration negotiation with New York.
The agency change does not establish that Volpe wants to leave the Yankees. There has been no public trade request and no indication that he has rejected a future in New York.
What it does is place one of baseball’s most prominent contract negotiators in the middle of a career crossroads the Yankees themselves created during the second half of the season.
Demotion changed more than Volpe’s roster status
Volpe’s move to Boras cannot be separated from what happened after the Yankees optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in early August.
When Volpe returned Sept. 10, MLB.com reported that he had received “no promises” about when — or even if — he would return to Yankee Stadium. His recall came only after Jazz Chisholm Jr. went on the injured list.
By then, the organization had already altered its infield hierarchy.
The Yankees promoted George Lombard Jr. and installed the 21-year-old as their shortstop of the future. Volpe, once treated as the player who could own that position for years, spent his Triple-A assignment preparing for a different job.
He made 19 starts at second base, three at third base and 15 at shortstop for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. His first game after returning to the majors was also his first major league start at second.
That was not a cosmetic change. It was an organizational signal.
The Yankees were no longer asking only whether Volpe could fix his offense and remain their shortstop. They were asking whether his value could survive after shortstop stopped belonging exclusively to him.
The ‘shortstop of the future’ identity no longer defines him
That makes the most provocative part of the Boras hiring less about the agent and more about Volpe’s baseball identity.
Volpe entered the organization as a first-round pick, became a top prospect and reached the majors in 2023 as the Yankees’ presumed long-term answer at shortstop. He played 159 games as a rookie, 160 in 2024 and 153 in 2025. He won an American League Gold Glove at shortstop in his first season.
Three years later, the Yankees have tested him at second and third while Lombard has moved into the position Volpe once appeared to own.
Volpe even made his first major league start at third base during the final week of the regular season. He also continued to see time at second and short.
Calling him a former shortstop would go too far because he can still play the position and did so late in September. But “Yankees shortstop” is no longer a complete description of his role.
That distinction matters entering an arbitration winter. Position, playing time and role all affect how a club evaluates a player’s worth, even when the formal arbitration process weighs a much broader résumé.
Boras arrives before Volpe’s second arbitration decision
Volpe already went through arbitration once.
The Yankees avoided a hearing with him last winter by agreeing to a one-year, $3.475 million contract for 2026. He remains under team control through the 2028 season and is scheduled to reach free agency after 2028.
That means this winter represents his second arbitration year, not his first.
It also means Boras is taking over at a point when Volpe’s salary is no longer fixed near the league minimum while his role is less secure than it was when he entered the arbitration system.
No reliable 2027 arbitration projection has been published yet, and the Yankees do not have to decide his future during the postseason. But the financial question is now unavoidable.
How much should New York commit to a player who has a Gold Glove, three seasons of near-everyday major league experience and postseason history, but who also spent part of 2026 in Triple-A and no longer owns one position?
That is the kind of split résumé Boras will be asked to maximize.
Volpe gives Boras arguments on both sides of his 2026
Volpe’s 2026 major league numbers give the Yankees evidence for restraint.
He hit .245 with a .321 on-base percentage and .336 slugging percentage over 70 regular-season games. He finished with two home runs, 28 RBIs, 12 stolen bases and an 84 OPS+, according to Baseball Reference.
Those numbers did not resemble the breakout season the Yankees once hoped would accompany his defense and speed.
But Boras will not be negotiating from one slash line alone.
Volpe can point to three years of heavy major league playing time before 2026, his 2023 Gold Glove, 21 home runs and 24 stolen bases as a rookie, postseason experience and the defensive versatility he added this season.
He also responded to his demotion rather than disappearing from the Yankees’ plans.
Volpe returned Sept. 10 and immediately hit a grand slam as part of a three-hit, five-RBI game. Manager Aaron Boone praised the work Volpe had done in Triple-A, while Volpe acknowledged that nothing about his return had been guaranteed.
The comeback did not restore his old status. It did give his new representation another way to frame a difficult season: not simply as a demotion, but as evidence that Volpe adapted after the Yankees changed his role.
The Yankees now have to price uncertainty
That is why this arbitration decision is more complicated than the dollar figure alone.
The Yankees must decide how they view Volpe before they can decide how much his next contract fits their roster.
If Lombard is their starting shortstop in 2027, Volpe could enter camp competing for work at second, third and short. Chisholm’s status, Jose Caballero’s role and any offseason additions could further change the equation.
Volpe therefore sits in an unusual place: too established to be treated like a developmental prospect, but no longer secure enough to be described as a cornerstone at one position.
For New York, an arbitration salary is also a roster-allocation decision. The club has to determine whether Volpe’s combination of defense, speed, experience and versatility is worth carrying at a rising arbitration-stage cost if he is not guaranteed an everyday job.
For Boras, the task is the opposite: establish that the player’s value extends beyond the role the Yankees gave him during a turbulent 2026.
Hiring Boras turns Yankees uncertainty into an offseason negotiation
The timing gives the agent change its real significance.
Volpe did not hire Boras while entrenched at shortstop and cruising toward a predictable salary increase. He did it after being demoted, displaced and reinterntroduced to the roster at new positions.
That does not mean a breakup is coming.
It does mean the Yankees and Volpe are approaching their next negotiation from a very different place than they were a year ago.
Last winter, New York was paying its starting shortstop through arbitration.
This winter, it may be negotiating with a second baseman, third baseman, shortstop or multi-position player whose exact place in the organization remains unsettled.
Boras now gets to argue what that player is worth.
The Yankees first changed where Anthony Volpe fits. Their next decision is how much they are willing to pay for that new version of him.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
