Before the Yankees’ latest no-show against the Red Sox, manager Aaron Boone said he has thought of giving Anthony Volpe a breather now that he has an option at shortstop in trade-deadline acquisition José Caballero.
“Especially with Caballero, I gave him one the other day,” Boone said. “Those can be in play here, but I wasn’t going to do it with a lefty today.”
Volpe went out and showed Boone he may need one.
He committed his 17th error of the season in the ninth inning of the Yankees’ ugly 12-1 loss, along with another day at the plate without a hit.
It also included him laying down a questionable sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning with one out and the Yankees trailing by three runs.
Boone came to Volpe’s defense on his, well, defense.
In the Red Sox seven-run ninth, Volpe air-mailed a throw on a David Hamilton grounder.
He is one error shy of a career high, having committed 17 as a rookie in 2023.
“Volpe made an error, it was his first in a few weeks,” the manager said. “He’s been playing really well out there, made a bad throw.”
Volpe committed a mental mistake Friday night.
With Jarren Duran on second base and one out in a 1-0 game in the ninth inning, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a grounder to Volpe and instead of making the routine throw to first, Volpe threw behind Duran to Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second.
Duran was safe and Rafaela beat Chisholm’s throw to first.
Afterwards, Boone said it was “obviously not the right play” but also called it a “heady play.”
It’s harder to defend Volpe offensively, as he has hit another dry spell.
He’s in a 1-for-28 drought and is batting .169 in the month of August.
His OPS on the season is down to .675 and his batting average has fallen to .208.
Boone kept Volpe in the lineup Saturday because he wanted his righty bat against the lefty, Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet.
Yet, in the fourth, Volpe laid down a sacrifice bunt, a sign of his diminished confidence.
The Yankees’ shortstop is struggling and hearing more frequent boos.
Maybe a break, as Boone suggested he has considered, could help.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
