Volpe gets first look atop lineup
Anthony Volpe is getting a look in the leadoff spot after all.
A day after manager Aaron Boone said he wasn’t ready to pull the trigger with that move, the young shortstop was at the top of the Yankees’ batting order Wednesday night.
Part of the reasoning behind the decision was to drop Gleyber Torres in the lineup — he was batting sixth Wednesday after spending the early part of the season hitting first — and elevating Volpe felt like the easy call to Boone.
“Even though Anthony’s young, he’s one of those guys I don’t worry about being affected by different things,” the Yankees’ manager said before his team’s 5-2 loss to the Marlins in the series finale in The Bronx. “Obviously love his at-bats, comfortable having him up there. … Where he’s hitting I don’t think impacts who he is as a player or anything like that.”
The 22-year-old
Volpe continued his strong start in the loss to the Marlins, reaching bases three times in five at-bats.
He walked twice and singled, and now has a .372/.460/.581 slash line with a 1.041 OPS, two home runs and six RBIs. And Wednesday, Volpe rose to the leadoff spot, although Boone was reluctant to label it a longtime thing, saying it will be a fluid situation.
“Excited. To be able to hit at the top of this lineup, and hit in front of guys like [Juan Soto], and just try to get on base and do my job, it’s a good place to be,” Volpe said.
He added: “Probably every game in the minor leagues I led off, so definitely not uncomfortable.”
As for Torres, he has just two extrabase hits in 52 at-bats, and a .192/.295/ .231 slash line. Boone is hopeful that moving down in the order can help him snap out of his early-season funk. Torres went hitless in the three-game series against the Marlins and has struggled to find his stroke so far.
“I do feel like his process and his atbats have been there,” Boone said. “I also feel like, though, he’s been kind of fighting and pressing for some results in that top spot a little bit the last couple of days. Just move him down a little bit, take a little [pressure] off. Again, I think he’s really close to clicking.
“I feel like if I left him there over time, he would be Gleyber Torres and we’d see the results. But I feel like it’s weighed on him a little bit here the last two nights, maybe chasing that result a little but. I just moved him down, change the look with him a little bit.”