NEW YORK — The chant started small and spread fast. The Fox is hot. Two words for a player who spent most of the summer as an afterthought, sent to the minors and nearly written out of the Yankees’ plans. Now he will not leave the lineup, and that is exactly the problem.
A month ago, few would have guessed Anthony Volpe would matter this September. He had lost his shortstop job, accepted a demotion, and watched a rookie take his old position. His return felt like a footnote to a lost season.
Instead, he has forced his way into the middle of a decision the Yankees did not expect to make. His bat is loud, his glove is clean, and his timing could not be more inconvenient for a manager trying to set an October roster.
The trouble is where he plays, not how he plays. And the man he is pushing has not done anything wrong.
Since rejoining the Yankees on Sept. 10, Volpe is 8-for-23 with a homer, two doubles, seven RBIs and four steals over seven games, hitting .348 with a .965 OPS while starting six times at second base.
That surge has created a crowded infield picture with 10 games left, because second base belongs to Jazz Chisholm Jr., who is expected back from the injured list before the playoffs. The Yankees sit four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East and are chasing the top American League wild-card spot.
A demotion that looks like a turning point
The reset began in August, when the Yankees optioned Volpe to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. It read as a benching. It may have been a fix.
Volpe tore through the International League, posting a .906 OPS after the demotion and hitting .440 with a .533 on-base percentage in September before his recall. He arrived in the Bronx a different hitter than the one who left.
The change was mechanical, not just mental. Volpe studied older video, scrapped his previous movement pattern and added a small step back with his right foot to sharpen his timing and balance. His reset showed his swing length shortened from 7.1 feet to 6.8 feet, and Volpe’s squared-up rate jumped from 30.6% to 47.1%.
The debut was loud. In his first game back on Sept. 10, Volpe went 3-for-4 with a grand slam and a career-high five RBIs in a Yankees rout of Colorado.
The Chisholm problem nobody planned for
Chisholm landed on the injured list Sept. 9 with a sprained right thumb, hurt on a headfirst slide into second the night before. The Yankees shut him down from baseball activity for seven to 10 days, and he has a history of healing fast.
That return is the pinch. Chisholm is the everyday second baseman, and his job is not in question. When healthy, he goes back to the position Volpe is now playing well.
So the Yankees face a puzzle. Volpe is producing at Chisholm’s spot, third baseman Ryan McMahon has struggled, and rookie George Lombard Jr. holds shortstop. Someone with a case to play may end up on the bench.
Manager Aaron Boone has not tipped his hand on how the at-bats sort out once Chisholm is active. He has, however, been effusive about the work Volpe put in to get back.
“I have a ton of respect for the person and the player,” Boone said. “He’s been a complete pro and completely gotten after it down there in everything they’ve thrown at him.”
The number that reframes the debate
Here is the detail that changes the conversation, and one few have pushed to the front. Volpe has been nearly flawless at a position he had not played since 2021. Entering Wednesday, he had committed one error in 162 1/3 innings at second base, a .987 fielding percentage.
That matters because the knock on Volpe was never his glove at shortstop. It was his bat. If the defense travels and the swing holds, the Yankees are no longer weighing a hot streak against a slump. The Yankees are weighing two useful players for a shrinking number of roster spots.
Boone has liked what the development reports showed, including Volpe’s work turning the double play.
“He’s the type of athlete that should take to that position well,” Boone said. “Not surprised.”
An old controversy with a new twist
There is irony in the route back. In July, a report claimed Volpe had refused to play second base, a story he and the Yankees denied and that broadcaster Michael Kay publicly apologized for spreading. Second base has now become the very path returning Volpe to relevance.
His versatility is the quiet Yankees subplot. Triple-A prepared him at second and third as well as shortstop, which gives Boone options McMahon’s bat has not earned. McMahon is hitting .210 with a .621 OPS over 118 games, though his defense at third remains steady.
The bigger Yankees picture still favors patience. Chisholm returns to second, Lombard stays at short, and Boone will manage the mix day to day. But Volpe has turned an emergency recall into a real audition, and he keeps making the easy call harder.
For a Yankees player who looked expendable in August, that is its own kind of victory. The Yankees wanted depth in September. They got a decision instead.
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