Why Yankees' Prospect Anthony Volpe Is Remaining Grounded After Strong 2021 Campaign
After putting together a strong season between Low and High A ball, shortstop Anthony Volpe jettisoned himself to the No. 1 spot on the Yankees’ Top 30 Prospect list.
And with great power, comes great responsibility, but that doesn’t mean he is letting all of the hype go to his head.
"I don't really pay too much attention to the stuff outside of my control," Volpe told YES Network. "It's definitely an honor and one I don't take lightly, but at the same time, I just want to be the best player I can possibly be. Whether that's an unranked bottom-of-the-order prospect or where I am now, the Yankees' No. 1 prospect, I think I still have a long way to go to reach my potential."
Last season, Volpe slashed .294/.423/.604 with a 1.027 OPS, 27 home runs and 86 RBIs across 109 games in the minors. And while Volpe is still just 20 years old, the Yankees have taken the young shortstop into account when considering their future plans and offseason moves.
So much so that general manager Brian Cashman, who identified shortstop as a position of need at the major league level earlier this winter, has engaged with a number of free agents but did not pull the trigger on any of the top candidates prior to the lockout.
In fact, rumors have been swirling that the Yankees could potentially roll with a stopgap option at short in 2022. That is because Volpe and fellow shortstop prospect Oswald Peraza showcased their abilities in the club’s system last year, which put the organization on notice.
READ: Top Shortstop Prospects Will Impact How Yankees Approach Free Agency
Peraza, 21, is the closest to making his big-league debut of the pair, finishing out the 2021 campaign in Triple-A. Peraza played across three different levels a season ago, slashing .297/.356/.477 with a .834 OPS, 18 homers and 58 RBIs.
And although Volpe is still a few years away from reaching the majors, he is currently ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 15 prospect in all of baseball.
"He had a very impressive year," Cashman told reporters this offseason. "He certainly caught the attention of the entire industry. It really reinforces and justifies everything we heard from our amateur department when we drafted him, and so we're excited about his future."
Volpe was selected in the first-round of the 2019 MLB Draft at No. 30 overall by the Yankees. However, a bout with mononucleosis limited him to just 34 games that summer, and in 2020, the minor league season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
"Having that year of COVID, it kind of put a lot of things in perspective," Volpe said. "Just being able to go out every day and really do what I love, and do what I signed to do, which is just play. Just being on the field with all my teammates and getting back together with all the guys was just a blast.
"You remember all the great moments on the field, but just as much, going out after games, before games, road trips -- stuff like that. That was the stuff I guess I wasn't really thinking that I'd miss, but when you're in it, you realize how awesome it is."
After Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Javier Báez signed with other teams, this leaves Carlos Correa and Trevor Story as the lone two names left from the top free agent shortstop class.
READ: One MLB Insider Believes Yankees Won’t Land Carlos Correa
And if the Yankees don’t land Correa or Story, it likely means they anticipate one of Peraza or Volpe factoring into the equation sometime in the near future.
"You have some guys that are on the come that you have to think highly of," Cashman said. "That means you either make plans for them to hopefully arrive here and impact you, or ultimately I guess sometimes they can be trade pieces. But you always like to hold on to the best of the best if you can. When you have the ability to play shortstop, it's usually the most athletic person on the field."
The Yankees are in desperate need of an immediate impact at the shortstop position. But they might be able to get by in the interim until Peraza and Volpe are ready to join them in the Bronx.
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