TAMPA, Fla. — Anthony Volpe spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time since undergoing surgery on his left shoulder in October. He looked healthy. He sounded sharp. He said his body was ready. But the story of what he played through last season, and what the Yankees knew about it, keeps getting worse.
The 24-year-old shortstop began his hitting progression Monday with dry swings at George M. Steinbrenner Field. He has been fielding ground balls, throwing and running through defensive drills with the rest of the infield. He is a full participant in everything except diving, which will be the last step before he is cleared for games.
“My body’s ready to go,” Volpe said Tuesday. “I started my hitting progression, so other than that, I mean, I’m full go.”
That is the optimistic part. The rest of the picture is harder to frame so neatly.
Surgeons found damage the MRI did not show
When Volpe went under the knife in mid-October to repair a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder, the Yankees expected a routine cleanup. What team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad found during the arthroscopic procedure was significantly worse than the pre-surgery imaging had revealed.
General manager Brian Cashman acknowledged this after the surgery, telling reporters the required cleanup was more “severe” than the MRI showed. Cashman, who had insisted throughout the season that the injury was not materially affecting Volpe’s performance, changed his tone.
“I personally think now, I’m certainly leaning more into that, yes, it was affecting him,” Cashman said in October. “I think the injury probably contributed to the performance season that 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.”
That admission was striking. During the season, manager Aaron Boone had said he did not think the shoulder was “a major factor” in Volpe’s play. The organization let him stay in the lineup for 153 games. He never went on the injured list. He received two cortisone shots to manage the pain, one during the All-Star break in July and another in September. He played through the postseason, going 1-for-15 with 11 strikeouts in the ALDS loss to the Blue Jays.
The injury originated on May 3, when Volpe dove for a ground ball and felt a pop in his shoulder. He carried a .786 OPS into that game. He finished the year at .663.
Volpe refuses to use the injury as an excuse
To his credit, Volpe is not hiding behind the diagnosis. He said Tuesday that he takes full responsibility for his 2025 numbers. He hit .212 with a .663 OPS, 19 home runs and 150 strikeouts. He committed 19 errors, tied for third-most among all big league shortstops. His 83 OPS+ was 17% below league average.
“I know I could have played better,” Volpe said. “I felt strong and good enough to go. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have. But you definitely learn a lot about yourself. Then when you see what ended up happening and having to get surgery, you learn a lot about the mindset and how you got to be self-aware and aware of certain things going on.”
He described the early stages of rehab as “rock bottom” physically. He did not begin to feel like himself until around the new year when he started baseball activities again. Tuesday, he acknowledged that his left side never felt the same as his right throughout last season.
What this means for the Yankees’ shortstop plan
The Yankees open the 2026 season March 25 in San Francisco against the Giants. Volpe will not be in the lineup. Jose Caballero is expected to start at shortstop until Volpe is cleared, with Oswaldo Cabrera available as a backup option.
The club has said it does not expect Volpe back before late April or early May. Volpe himself sounded more optimistic, calling an April return “definitely” possible, though he stopped short of committing to a specific date.
Cashman hinted during the offseason that Volpe’s starting job is not guaranteed when he returns. If Caballero performs well, the Yankees may not rush to hand the position back. Through three full seasons, Volpe owns a career .222 batting average and .662 OPS. His 85 wRC+ ranks tied for 100th among 103 players with at least 1,500 plate appearances over the past three seasons.
“I believe in Volpe,” Cashman said in January. “And when he comes back, I still believe everything that we felt about him before his surgery.”
The real question the Yankees have to answer
The organization is walking a fine line. The Yankees still view Volpe as their shortstop of the present and future. They point to his age, his work ethic, his Gold Glove-winning rookie season in 2023 and his memorable grand slam in the 2024 World Series as evidence that the ceiling remains high.
But the uncomfortable truth is that the full extent of his injury was worse than the team disclosed while he was playing through it. Fans watched Volpe struggle for five months without knowing how much structural damage was hiding in that left shoulder. The MRI missed it. The training staff managed it with cortisone. And the front office publicly downplayed its significance.
Volpe is not pointing fingers. He said Tuesday he does not blame anyone and called the experience a lesson in self-awareness and communication.
“The chip I’ve had on my shoulder has been there for my whole life, my whole career,” Volpe said. “I just can’t wait to go back out there, play, feel good, perform, and help the team win. Because at the end of the day, if I do that and I play the way I can play, everything will take care of itself.”
Whether the shoulder cooperates, and whether the Yankees handle the next injury disclosure more transparently, are questions only 2026 can answer.
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