Aaron Boone Gives Yankees Lengthy Reason to Believe in Anthony Volpe

Anthony Volpe has had three full seasons with the New York Yankees. Though the last one was hampered by a shoulder injury, even when healthy, he has struggled. In 472 big league games in Volpe's career, across 1,886 plate appearances, he has hit .222/.283/.379 with an 85 wRC+.

Not everybody has given up on Volpe, though. One person still firmly in his corner is manager Aaron Boone. Boone spoke about the peaks and valleys of Volpe's career with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on their New York Post podcast.

"I think he's really talented. Obviously, a first-round pick for us out of high school. Kind of got through the system fairly quickly for a high school middle infielder. Hit his way up here. Has hit in the big leagues," Boone said of his shortstop.

"He's just had a lot of valleys too, to where the numbers aren't what we expect them to be — what he expects them to be over the long haul," Boone continued. "This game is filled with talented people, where it's not always linear. It's said a lot, but it's very true. People's journeys and tracks to become finished products are different a lot of times. You want your highly touted guys or guys talked about or high draft picks that get to the big leagues and bloom, it just takes off, and they're all stars, and they run with it."

Aaron Boone explains why he still believes Anthony Volpe can be a "true two-way" SS.

The Show with @Joelsherman1 & @JonHeyman pic.twitter.com/hCOxXZpW0R
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) February 6, 2026

Volpe's Future

While Boone and the organization still may have patience with Volpe, it's the fans who feel differently. Those boo birds rained down on Volpe last season when an exasperated Yankee Stadium crowd, witnessing yet another postseason collapse, took all their frustrations out on the young shortstop. What they saw was yet another strikeout, after an already ugly regular season.

If Volpe hopes to make up for the last three seasons, he will have to wait a little bit as he recovers from shoulder surgery. To start the season, Jose Caballero will be his stand-in at shortstop pending injury or unless they make a big move between now and Opening Day.

Sep 23, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero (72) reacts after hitting a walk off single against the Chicago White Sox during the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images

It will be interesting to see how likely Volpe is to retain his job if Caballero gets out of the gate hot, clobbering baseballs while also playing gold-glove caliber shortstop. Caballero is a wizard according to the defensive metrics, and last year, he hit well while with the Yankees.

After being traded to New York, he hit .266/.372/.456 in 95 plate appearances. If he continues on that offensive trek, it would be hard to take his job away for a light-hitting slugger in Volpe, who hasn't contributed much at the plate in his big league career.

Make sure to bookmark Yankees On SI to get all your daily New York Yankees news, interviews, breakdowns and more!