Breaking: Aaron Boone confirms Yankees’ star has suffered another devastating injury

For the first two months of the season, Yankees’ Anthony Volpe appeared to be living up to his former top-prospect status.

Volpe was hitting at career-high levels with a 34-game on-base streak, and New York had the league’s top record. At the All-Star break, Volpe has dropped from leadoff to seventh in the order, and manager Aaron Boone stated on “Talkin’ Yanks” that Volpe, like the Yankees as a team, needs to reset at the plate.

“He’s still working and going through some of those growing pains to get there,” Boone told me. “So, yes, it’s a tough game. Hopefully, in the second half, some of the things he’s working on begin to click and you see a more complete hitter and product. But it is a work in progress.”

Volpe has hit.171/.203/.230 with a 22 wRC+ since June 6, lowering his season OPS from.803 to.666. Strikeouts have become a concern, and he has not homered since May 16. During the same period, the Yankees went 13-21, dropping to second in the division at the break.

Prior to the cold spell, Volpe had a 130 wRC+, third on the Yankees behind Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, up from an 84 in his rookie season last year.

 

 

Volpe was the league’s No. 5 prospect in 2023, according to MLB Pipeline, and he earned the American League’s shortstop Gold Glove in his rookie season. Fans expected Volpe to improve significantly in his second year, as other former top shortstop prospects such as Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson did, finishing in the top ten in MVP voting.

“I think he will develop into being an above average offensive player,” Boone had stated. “I simply think he’s going through the process of being a 22-year-old, young kid in the NBA who has shown offensive potential. I believe that going through what he went through last year, having some really amazing moments and doing some really good things, but also having some really tough times. Having the courage and ability to make certain modifications and changes that we saw in the first half that looked extremely terrific, but then went through some difficulties.”