NEW YORK — The Yankees have built their pitching staff around one idea. Keep the ball on the ground and let the defense do the rest. That plan now runs straight into a question about the man standing at shortstop.
Anthony Volpe entered the season as the everyday answer at the position. Halfway through 2026, a prominent voice in New York baseball media is asking whether he belongs there at all.
The doubt is not about effort or makeup. It is about the arm.
Joel Sherman of The New York Post raised the issue this week, and the framing has stuck to the conversation around the Yankees infield.
Insider questions whether Volpe fits at short
Sherman made his case during an appearance on “The Michael Kay Show,” addressing a worry that has trailed Volpe since his return from shoulder surgery. The analyst argued that Volpe’s throwing limits sit at the center of his defensive trouble.
Sherman explained why the position may not match the tools.
“Anthony Volpe has a second baseman’s arm and he plays shortstop,” Sherman said on “The Michael Kay Show.” “And I think when he makes mistakes in the field, I think it’s often because he’s the Tasmanian Devil trying to hurry things up to… lessen the need for his arm.”
The point reframes how fans might read Volpe’s errors. A shortstop confident in his arm can wait on a grounder, let it travel, plant and throw. Sherman’s view is that Volpe cannot afford that pause. So he rushes. He fields on the move and releases early to make up for the distance his arm struggles to cover. The hurry creates the very mistakes that draw criticism.
Why the arm matters more for these Yankees
The timing of the critique lands hard because of how this Yankees team is constructed. Sherman noted that New York owns the best ground ball pitching staff in Major League Baseball.
No staff forces more balls into the dirt. That design only works if the infield turns those chances into outs. It raises the stakes on every play hit toward short.
Sherman added a detail that sharpens the concern. He said the Yankees rank among the worst teams in the league at completing double plays when Volpe is on the field. He framed that gap as a structural mismatch rather than a run of poor luck. The pitching staff’s identity and the shortstop’s range and arm are pulling in different directions.
Thursday night in Boston offered a fresh example. In a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Volpe could not turn an inning-ending double play in the eighth, getting only one out and letting a run score that pushed Boston’s lead to its final margin. His throw to first base pulls Ben Rice wide allowing Ceddanne Rafaela to reach the bag. It was one of a season-high four Yankees errors in a game where all six Boston runs were unearned. The play fit Sherman’s description almost exactly. A double-play turn demands the quick, accurate throw he argues Volpe does not have.
That tension explains why the topic refuses to fade. The Yankees are not built to absorb shaky infield defense. They are built to depend on it.
A homegrown story collides with a hard evaluation
Volpe’s path adds weight to the debate. He grew up in New Jersey as a Yankees fan and idolized Derek Jeter. Playing shortstop in the Bronx was the goal he chased above almost everything else. Sherman acknowledged that backstory and did not brush it aside. He also refused to let it soften his read on the player.
Sherman pushed the question to its uncomfortable end.
“I just keep always wondering, is he just going to end up being a successful player as a second baseman outside of New York?” Sherman said.
That line cuts to the heart of the matter. It asks whether the dream job and the right job are the same thing for Volpe. The pressure of the position, in the city he grew up wanting to represent, may be working against him.
The defensive record gives the discussion teeth. Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2023. His play slipped after that. He led the American League with 19 errors in 2025 before offseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He missed the start of 2026 and was optioned to Triple-A after a rough rehab. He returned to the Yankees on May 13 and has split shortstop duties since, with Jose Caballero also in the mix.
What the Yankees do next
Sherman’s segment also touched on possible answers. He mentioned prospect George Lombard Jr., whose defensive instincts and feel for the game have drawn praise from scouts. A trade for a shortstop came up as well. Sherman was candid that neither route offers a fast solution.
That leaves the Yankees in a familiar spot. They sit atop the American League East at 48-32, two games clear of the Tampa Bay Rays, and squarely in the postseason race. The position is a strength. The shortstop question is not going away.
For now, Volpe remains the primary option at a spot the Yankees cannot afford to get wrong. The pitching staff keeps pounding the bottom of the zone. The grounders keep coming. And the debate about whether Volpe’s arm fits the job he always wanted will follow every one of them.
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