Is it the cortisone shot? Is it the month? Is it the latest streak from a streaky player?
Whatever the source, Anthony Volpe has swatted away the questions that lingered as recently as mid-September and is becoming another edition of Mr. October.
Volpe, whose starting spot no longer is in question, finished off another strong playoff series with an RBI single and a clutch defensive play in the Yankees’ 4-0, heart-pounding Game 3 victory over the Red Sox in The Bronx that sent the club to Toronto for the ALDS.
Remember just a few weeks back, when fans had been clamoring for less Volpe and more José Caballero? That outcry has stalled because Volpe has hit the accelerator.
On Thursday, Volpe stepped up with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and grounded a single through the right side to add a second run of the night.
It was his glove that came through in the sixth, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. dirted a throw to second base trying to get the lead runner. Volpe adjusted and scooped with his backhand while keeping his foot on the base to record the first out of yet another inning Boston would not score against Cam Schlittler.
It was another strong October night for Volpe, who hit .364 with a 1.000 OPS in this postseason’s first series and quickly is building a reputation for rising to the moment.
“I just want to do anything I can to help this team,” a drenched Volpe said in the victorious clubhouse. “All I want to do is win. All anyone in this clubhouse wants to do is win. So anything you can do to contribute, we’re doing everything we can.”
Volpe did everything he could in all three games: On Wednesday, he leapt for a high throw from Devin Williams, smoothly landing on second base and throwing strong to first to complete a nifty and significant eighth-inning double play. In Tuesday’s loss, he smacked a home run for the only Yankees run. (And later in that game, he singled and pestered Aroldis Chapman enough to draw a third throw-over and annoy his way to second base.)
This did not look like the same player whose latest slump saw him go 2-for-19 with 11 strikeouts to begin September, his average falling to .206; who committed 19 errors to tie for the third most in the majors this season.
Maybe he can credit the Sept. 10 shot he received in his left shoulder — the one he hurt all the way back on May 3.
“He started to swing the bat better since then, obviously,” manager Aaron Boone said before the game of Volpe, who after that injection hit .289 in 11 games before a couple of strong postseason contests. “I don’t know how much that played or didn’t play into it or how much of a factor it was.
“It has been six to eight weeks, too, of the defense being up to Anthony’s standards again. … It’s been a couple months of really good now.”
It has been a couple of strong Octobers, too. Last year, Volpe finished his regular season miserably — hitting .148 with a .406 OPS in his final 19 games — before tweaking his approach during a strong postseason in which he swung with more authority. He was one of the more dependable Yankees bats at this time last year, hitting .286 with an .815 OPS in 14 postseason games.
Is Volpe — a New York native whose status as New York Yankees shortstop commands enormous attention — particularly adept at tuning out everything and elevating his game when others feel the pressure?
“He is a gamer. He is a tough kid,” Boone said of Volpe, who has reached base safely in 16 of 17 career postseason games. “You asked me all season long how he handled [the scrutiny] — he is a guy that handles failure and success really well up here.”
It is possible, of course, that this Volpe disappears. His three major league seasons have been defined by sizzling hot and frigid cold stretches. To firmly entrench himself as the Yankees shortstop of the long-term future, Volpe would have to show that October Volpe can be April, May and June Volpe.
But October Volpe helped ensure the Yankees’ October will continue in Toronto.
“It’s going to be a tough test,” Volpe said of the Blue Jays. “We got to take it to them.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
