Cashman: Volpe ‘doing everything he needs to do’
TAMPA — Three weeks away from Opening Day, the Yankees say they are not yet ready to make any definitive conclusions on their shortstop competition.
But Anthony Volpe is making those decisions more difficult with his strong play through the first half of camp.
“Let’s put it this way: Anthony Volpe’s doing everything he needs to do,” general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday. “Now we’ll see how, ultimately, he measures up compared to everybody else in our internal dialogues. That [determination] hasn’t happened yet. I know everybody would love to have an answer or decision sooner than later, but we’re not prepared to make those decisions yet. But he’s having a great camp and we’re proud of him.”
It was notable on Wednesday when team captain Aaron Judge, while answering a question about Volpe’s lack of Triple-A experience (22 games), said that “if you’re the best player … you should be up helping the New York Yankees,” regardless of age.
Asked if the decision was that simple, Cashman noted that among the factors involved is that Volpe is not currently on the 40-man roster — Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Oswald Peraza, the other members of the competition, both are. But Cashman insisted that the Yankees would let the battle play out.
“Ultimately when we get a little closer [to Opening Day], we’re going to have to make some decisions because ultimately, we want to win,” Cashman said.
Volpe, who started Thursday’s game against the Red Sox at second base and went 0-for-3, finished the day batting .300 with a .941 OPS and three steals in seven games this spring.
Peraza returned to start at shortstop after dealing with lower leg discomfort in recent days and went 1-for-3 with a double. Through five games, he was batting .250 with a .733 OPS and one steal.
Kiner-Falefa, meanwhile, who started at shortstop on Wednesday and is expected to play second base on Friday, was batting .091 with a .396 OPS and one steal across six games.
➤ A day after Frankie Montas said he “wasn’t fully 100 percent” healthy when the Yankees acquired him at the trade deadline last year, Cashman defended the Yankees’ due diligence in evaluating the medical information available to them at that time.
“I think in terms of context, it’s easy for him to say that now, but when we got him, he said he felt great, he was feeling 100 percent and ready to go,” Cashman said.
➤ To celebrate his 50th birthday, Boone took pregame batting practice Thursday and, using Josh Donaldson’s bat, hit a home run in his fourth round of swings.