Shortstop

The weight can be enormous. It’s New York. It’s the Yankees. It’s the position played by one of the all time greats and Hall of Famer. The Captain. There have been a few players who’ve played the position since Derek Jeter retired in 2014. But not with the promise of Anthony Volpe, a twenty-one year old from New Jersey who’s now living the dream. Volpe, the son of two doctors, gave up going to Vanderbilt, when the Yankees offered him $2.7 million dollars to sign with them. This spring he was given the chance to take the starting shortshop job. He was competing against Oswald Peraza who had been called up to the majors at the end of last season and played well. Volpe has never played in the Major Leagues. Even Jeter had been called up at the end of 1995 before he got the starting job in 1996.

Volpe showed he was ready. He hit .314, with three home runs, six doubles, a triple and five RBI’s this spring. Volpe joins a line up with MVP and Captain Aaron Judge, the face of the franchise, and stars like Anthony Rizzo, and pitcher Gerrit Cole. While the Yankees have been good, they have not won the World Series in fourteen years. When Jeter took over shortstop, the Yankees hadn’t won the World Series in eighteen years. Comparing Volpe to Jeter is unfair, but that’s what fans are hoping they have in Volpe. Volpe idolized Jeter growing up. He remembers going to the victory parade in 2009 when he was eight years old when he could hardly see the top of the floats as the players went by.

You can watch the video on line of Volpe being brought into Manager Aaron Boone’s office to be told if he made the team. GM Brian Cashman is sitting there along with a couple of coaches.  You can see the apprehensive look on Volpe’s face. In an attempt by Boone to play with Volpe’s emotions, he starts by saying, “This is difficult conversation to have to have.” He talked about how Volpe “killed it” in training camp, but then Boone says Volpe only had a short time in the minors and there is room for more development. Volpe has to be thinking, I’m going back to the minors but then Boone says, “I think that development should happen in the big leagues. Welcome to New York.” He comes around the desk and hugs Volpe and tells him he earned it.

In an interview with reporters in the hallway after he got the news, Volpe was trying to understand his dream came through. When asked about the news, Volpe said, “My heart was beating pretty hard.” While Volpe will be following the lead of Judge in the coming years, the hope is he will be the heart of the franchise someday. Volpe will wear number 77. His grandfather’s favorite player was Mickey Mantle whose number seven is long retired.

There is no bigger stage in sports than playing the most important position on the field for the New York Yankees. You’re playing in the shadow of legends. We cannot know what Anthony Volpe will become. What we do know is this Thursday at 1:05pm he will be standing at shortstop in Yankee Stadium with his “heart beating pretty hard.”