Yankees hope Anthony Volpe’s arduous hits are harbinger of issues to come back

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jim Hendry was one of many scouts who helped ensure Anthony Volpe turned a Yankee out of Delbarton HS.

The longtime government watched Volpe in highschool and was assured the shortstop not solely might carry out through the common season, however when it mattered most, as nicely.

“He simply had it,” Hendry, a particular assistant to basic supervisor Brian Cashman, mentioned this week at Yankee Stadium. “I knew the second wouldn’t get too large for him.”

The 23-year-old lifelong Yankee fan is getting his first alternative within the postseason towards the Royals within the ALDS and has proven indicators that Hendry’s evaluation was right, because the Yankees cut up the opening two video games heading into Recreation 3 at Kauffman Stadium.

After a second straight inconsistent common season, Volpe has had largely good at-bats on the plate within the first two video games of the collection towards Kansas Metropolis — and whereas he made a pricey throwing error in Recreation 1 that helped result in a pair of runs, he has in any other case been regular at brief.

Requested what he noticed from Volpe as a excessive schooler that made him assured the first-rounder would reach October, Hendry mentioned, “He’s a mature child, with the best way he carried himself and the best way he performed.”

The Yankees noticed sufficient from Volpe to place him at shortstop in The Bronx at the start of 2023 and his bat has not produced as a lot as many had anticipated.

He sacrificed a little bit of energy this season in change for extra contact, however there remained prolonged stretches of little of both.

Up to now towards Kansas Metropolis, Volpe has hit a number of balls arduous, together with a 100-mph opposite-field shot to the warning observe in proper on the Stadium and one other well-struck ball to proper area in his second at-bat of Recreation 1.

Volpe adopted that with a bases-loaded stroll.

He received his first hit of the collection within the second inning on Monday, a hard-hit single to left, adopted by one other stroll after which a smash to shortstop.

He’s hit three balls over 100 mph within the two video games, and hit two over 105 on Monday.

It’s these sorts of numbers that make Yankees imagine that Volpe has extra in retailer on the plate.

And Hendry stays assured Volpe can produce on the highest degree.

Even earlier than the Yankees drafted Volpe, Hendry likened him to Alex Bregman, who Hendry noticed at LSU earlier than he turned an Astro.

Bregman, although, hit the bottom operating in Houston, hitting nicely nearly instantly as a mid-season call-up in July 2016.

Bregman had an up-and-down postseason in ’17 and emerged as a famous person in 2018.

Whether or not Volpe finally ends up on the same path is unclear.

His prolonged slumps after pitchers modify to adjustments he’s made have brought about some scouts to marvel if Volpe will meet expectations, though the Yankees level out he’s nonetheless a younger and inexperienced participant.

What he does the remainder of this collection will make the image a bit clearer.