FORT MYERS, Fla. — Brian Cashman said Thursday that Anthony Volpe was doing “everything he needs to do” in the Yankees’ shortstop competition.
As the team crossed the midway point of its Grapefruit League schedule on Sunday, the 21-year-old is not showing any signs of slowing down.
Volpe crushed a long home run and added a double, both to the opposite field, against the Red Sox as he continued to make a push for the shortstop job — or at least make the Yankees’ decision as difficult as possible with less than three weeks remaining in camp.
“I think there’s a lot of time left, a lot of games left,” Volpe said after the teams tied 3-3 at JetBlue Park. “For me, it’s just day by day and trying to take advantage of every opportunity. … It’s definitely early, but everyone wants to perform in games. Having that support system and all the guys there to help definitely takes away any feeling like you’re underprepared.”
After striking out looking in his first at-bat against Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck, Volpe came back in his next at-bat against Houck and drilled a double to right field.
Then, facing veteran reliever Chris Martin in the fifth inning, Volpe fell behind in the count 1-2 before clobbering a pitch for his second home run of the spring that landed beyond the Red Sox’ bullpen in right-center field.
“Wow,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Just really good at-bats from him all day. Getting himself in good counts, making good swing decisions, getting some really good ones off all the way to his last one where he hit a ball well again to right field. Really good day in the box for him. That’s a pretty good poke out there. Obviously the wind’s blowing out here, but this is as big a right-center as there is. To go over the [visitor’s bullpen] just gives you a little peek at how much power he’s got to all fields.”
Through nine Grapefruit League games, Volpe is now batting .320 with a 1.113 OPS, standing out both on and off the field to some of the more veteran players on the team.
“I think they certainly respect his ability and the way he goes about things,” Boone said. “A lot of our guys, especially our established, core players, I think he’s gotten their attention.”
Volpe has done the same with scouts who have seen him, both in the past and this spring.
“He just comes to beat your ass,” said a National League scout.
There are still questions about where Volpe ends up in the field long term — the NL scout said he thinks Volpe will eventually be a second baseman but it wouldn’t surprise him either if he sticks at shortstop.
An American League scout added that while Volpe may not have the top foot speed or arm strength at shortstop, he has the instincts and baseball IQ to make up for it.
As for whether Volpe looks ready to break camp with the Yankees, both scouts said ideally he would still start the season at Triple-A, with Oswald Peraza their choice to start at shortstop in the big leagues because of his defense.
But they also said they would not be concerned if the Yankees went with Volpe to start the season.
“If they said Volpe starts, I wouldn’t be surprised,” the AL scout said. “There truly is a battle going on.”
In the meantime, Volpe made the most of his second game of the spring against the Red Sox — this one at JetBlue Park, which has the same dimensions as Fenway Park, including a slightly smaller Green Monster.
And while he insists he is not caught up in the shortstop competition, his friends back home surely are.
“It’s funny, friends back home send me the videos [of highlights],” Volpe said with a laugh. “But it’s awesome at the same time, to see that they’re following. At heart, if I played bad, they’d probably be pissed at me, just because they’re fans. But it’s a pretty cool dynamic that we all grew up watching the games and everything like that.”