New York Yankees: Anthony Volpe makes roster as starting shortstop

The New York Yankees came into the 2023 spring training with an open competition for the starting shortstop position. The battle featured last year’s starter Isiah Kiner-Falefa, late 2022 call-up prospect Oswald Peraza, and the Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe. Volpe left no doubt as to the winner and will open the season as the starting shortstop for the Yankees.

Early in camp, it became clear that it was going to be a two-horse race between Volpe and Peraza. Volpe is the consensus top prospect in the organization and ranks 14th overall with Baseball America, seventh by Baseball Prospectus, all the way to fifth by MLB.com. Peraza is no slouch as he is either ranked second or third in the organization and also in the top 100 among MLB prospects. Both of the young middle infielders are good with the glove (Peraza being the better of the two), but Volpe stole the show at the plate while Peraza struggled to get things going.

Anthony Volpe will be the New York Yankees Opening Day shortstop

This spring in 17 games and 60 plate appearances, Volpe slashed .314/.417/.647, scored 13 runs, had 5 RBI, six doubles, one triple, and three home runs, five stolen bases without being caught, 13 strikeouts, and 8 walks.

Perhaps the shocking thing is that Volpe has only played 22 games at the Triple-A level when he was promoted to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders club at the end of last season. There will be continued development that needs to take place, but at this point, it will be in New York and not in the minor leagues.

Volpe, who will turn 22 on April 28 is listed at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds. He was selected in 2019 by the Yankees with the 30th selection of the first round of the MLB draft out of Delbarton High School in Morristown, N.J. Growing up 40 minutes from Yankee Stadium and always dreaming of playing for the club, Volpe decided to sign and pass on attending Vanderbilt University with his high school classmate Jack Leiter. Interestingly enough, Leiter was also taken in that same draft by the Yankees in the 20th round but decided to become a Vandy Boy. Two years later, he was selected No. 2 overall by the Texas Rangers in 2021.

The storied New York Yankee franchise doesn’t hand out starting jobs to youngsters very often. It is a testament to the mature approach that Volpe has and the ability to take the job this spring that has led to this point. The lights will be brighter in New York, but Anthony Volpe has been dreaming of this his entire life.