ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Anthony Volpe’s months-long stay in Tampa is nearly over.
But his hold on the Yankees’ starting shortstop job, once he returns, is alive and well.
Volpe still has a rehab assignment to go out on — which could begin as early as Tuesday — to check off the final boxes in his comeback from October surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
But on Friday, when asked if Volpe would be the starting shortstop upon his return, Brian Cashman offered his most definitive comments on the situation.
“That’s always been the plan,” Cashman said before the Yankees opened a series against the Rays at Tropicana Field. “But ultimately that’ll be the manager’s call.”
That has long been the sense, that once Volpe was healthy he would get a runway to start at shortstop and prove last year’s struggles on both sides of the ball were just a blip — perhaps affected by the shoulder injury he was playing through for most of the season.
But José Caballero had a chance to at least make it an interesting decision once Volpe came back, though the interim starting shortstop has gotten off to a slow start 12 games in, batting .135 with a .362 OPS and two errors.
In the meantime, Volpe took more live at-bats Friday at the club’s player development complex in Tampa and will get more over the weekend before flying back to New York with the Yankees on Sunday night. He is scheduled to see team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad on Monday to get final clearance to appear in game action, and if he gets the green light, could start a rehab assignment as soon as Tuesday with Double-A Somerset, a date that manager Aaron Boone had pinpointed late in spring training.
“He’s taken a ton of at-bats, taken a ton of reps in the field,” Boone said Friday. “They wear those Catapult [monitors] that track their workload — his workload’s probably higher than if he was playing games, knowing him. Hopefully he hits the ground running with his rehab, whenever that begins.”
On the final day of camp, Volpe said he felt “as healthy as I’ve ever been,” which was only making it harder for him to stay patient as he ramped up in his hitting progression.
Besides game action, he has done everything and now it is just about building up the volume of his workload from an at-bat standpoint.
“Looking to deploy him soon,” Cashman said. “We obviously want to get his legs under him. He’s been getting a lot of live at-bats and then with Trajekt, you can close the gap on stuff like that too. But obviously the in-game defensive stuff and building your foundation, getting his spring training behind him that way. Typically you want to get like 55 at-bats of spring training for an everyday position player and then build him up safely with the defense from three to five to seven innings, then obviously nine innings. Then we’ll find a time to slot him in.”
Once that time comes, it will be up to Volpe to answer the questions that arose last season about his future in the organization. The 24-year-old has been an inconsistent hitter all three seasons in the big leagues — finishing with an OPS of .666, .657 and .663 each year, taking different routes to get to virtually the same place — but last year he scuffled defensively especially during a stretch in the summer. After winning a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2023, his advanced defensive metrics regressed, and it was impossible for anyone to determine just how much of that was due to the left (non-throwing) shoulder that was bothering him since he dove on it and felt a pop in May.
“I know he’s really excited to be here today, be with the guys and everything,” Boone said. “I remember when he first went down to Tampa, probably right after the new year, and he almost immediately started making big gains and feeling better. I know he’s excited to get back.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
