One Positive Anthony Volpe Sign Before his Return to the Yankees

Most are not so thrilled about the return of Anthony Volpe to the New York Yankees. The last time he was in uniform, he whiffed in his final at-bat of the season against the Blue Jays in the ALDS. He exited the batter's box to a chorus of boos.

Jose Caballero looked like he could be an antidote of sorts after a strong finish to his season last year, but an early-season swoon quelled any thoughts that he could take the shortstop position. Of course, even though Caballero has picked it up and is hitting .333/.356/.526 in his last 59 plate appearances, it does feel likely that once Volpe is healthy, he should be the everyday shortstop again.

The Yankees haven't mentioned that it was the plan just yet. It has just been obvious since day one that they love the player, and think there is a ton of untapped potential there with Volpe that has yet to be mined.

Anybody rooting for Caballero would probably find the notion of him losing his job to Volpe to be a bummer. At the risk of playing devil's advocate, though, there is some intriguing underlying data from his rehab assignment.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe continued his rehab assignment with the Somerset Patriots at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater on April 17, 2026. | Alexander Lewis / MyCentralJersey / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While Volpe's slashline of .273/.304/.409 is decent but not quite great by any means, one thing he's doing well is making hard contact. That's something he has never done consistently in his career in the big leagues. It has always come in short spurts.

Volpe's underlying data

It's a tiny sample size because Volpe has only played in a handful of games thus far, but he has an average exit velocity of 94 MPH, according to the website Prospect Savant. Volpe also has a 20% barrel rate and an 80% hard-hit rate.

Volpe also seems to be pulling the ball in the air a lot. He has a 40% Pull Air rate.

Anthony Volpe leaves the yard for his first home run on his rehab assignment between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre!

🎥: @swbrailriders (X).#AnthonyVolpe #RepBX #Yankees #MiLB #YankeeSource pic.twitter.com/abD0ipYU3T
— Yankee Source (@_yankeesource) April 22, 2026

Cortisone Volpe

This isn't to say that Volpe will come up and finally be the bat the Yankees thought he was destined to be. It also isn't going to excuse another poor season at the plate and blame it on the shoulder injury, because, coming into last year, he had a career 85 wRC+. Those numbers are still a bit of a positive for a player that has come with very few silver linings following three straight poor years of hitting.

That underlying data showing that he's stinging balls in his rehab assignment does look similar to that stretch he had after getting a cortisone shot after the All-Star break. In 61 plate appearances and on a more rested shoulder, Volpe hit seven home runs with a double and a triple.

During that stretch where his power game felt like it came out of nowhere, he had an average exit velocity of 92 MPH. That also came with a 18.6% barrel rate and a 55.8% hard-hit rate.

That stretch seemed like an aberration compared to his season numbers. He had an average exit velocity of 89.3 MPH on the season. He had a 10.5% barrel rate and a 41.9% hard-hit rate.

Of course, once that stretch was over, for the rest of the season, he looked more like the Volpe of old, and his underlying metrics cratered as well. In his next 100 PA, Volpe had an 88.6 MPH average exit velocity, a 35% hard-hit rate, and a 10% barrel rate.

If Volpe comes back, the version of him after the All-Star break would be welcome. Swings like this from those 61 plate appearances didn't even feel like they were being produced from the same guy who struggled for most of 2025.

The Yankees have come all the way back 😤

Anthony Volpe's second HR of the night ties it! pic.twitter.com/Yuvmu0pXY1
— MLB (@MLB) July 20, 2025

Taking Caballero's job while the Yankees are rolling

Volpe came into the league with a lot of pomp and circumstance. There were those Derek Jeter comparisons, which were not fair.

While Volpe feels like he has the makeup and look to be a Yankee, saying all the right things, and having a clean cut look with not a single shred of beard on his face, at the plate, he has been disappointing. At the end of the day, saying and doing all the right things don't matter if you have a career 85 wRC+.

If Volpe is going to get into the good graces of fans, finally producing at the plate is going to be the way to do it. Especially since now, the most recent image we have of Caballero is him hitting a rocket into the seats in Houston.

It’s not a great idea to return Anthony Volpe to SS right now with the way José Caballero is hitting the ball. Hope the Yankees see it that way as well. Volpe hasn’t earned the SS role, and Caballero is hot. The timing isn’t right to make a switch. pic.twitter.com/E1dB3xdQwH
— Yankeesource (@YankeeSource) April 25, 2026

Caballero's stick is coming back and looks more like the guy the Yankees traded for last year. Nobody wants to see a downgrade at short while everything is clicking with the Yankees.

Add us as a preferred source on Google