Yankees' Anthony Volpe taking minor-league assignment 'like a pro'
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe gets Boston Red Sox third base Alex Bregman at second base to start a the double play in the eighth inning during Game 2 of the AL Wild Card series on Oct. 1, 2025 at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Anthony Volpe is no longer on scholarship as the starting shortstop of the New York Yankees.
The organization made that clear Sunday night when the club optioned the 25-year-old, having finished his rehab assignment in the minors, to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the foreseeable future.
“It’s acknowledging where we are as a club right now,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday before the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Orioles with a 12-1 victory at the Stadium.
Where are the Yankees as a club? Currently, an American League-best 24-11 having won 14 of their last 16 games.
And Volpe’s replacement at short, Jose Caballero, has been a significant part of it all.
“That was tough,” captain Aaron Judge, who is particularly close to Volpe, said on the field Monday after taking pregame batting practice. “Anthony’s my guy, but I know he’s going to be more motivated than ever to come back here. Team’s been doing well. Caballero at shortstop has done an amazing job, defensively and offensively.”
Caballero, a trade deadline acquisition last year, entered the spring with the starting shortstop job his because Volpe underwent shoulder surgery last October, shortly after the Yankees were eliminated by the Blue Jays in four games in the ALDS.
And after a slow start to the regular season, Caballero has done nothing to lose it. His performance, coupled with the fact that Volpe, by any objective measure, was more underwhelming than not during his first three seasons as the starter at short.
“We want him [Volpe] to have the best chance to be successful, and we have to acknowledge first how well Jose’s played,” Boone said. “He’s just been a key factor in us getting off to a really great start this year, on both sides of the ball, [on the] basepaths. It’s really as simple as that. It doesn’t change how we feel about Anthony or the kind of player we think he is and will be. But in this moment of time, we felt like this was absolutely the right thing to do.”
Caballero, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI double and a walk Monday, is hitting .261 with a .725 OPS. He’s stolen an AL-leading 13 bases (and also been caught an MLB-leading four times).
“It’s a surprise,” Judge said of his initial reaction to the Volpe news. “But then also, Caballero’s rolling. I think the biggest thing is, as a team it’s flowing right now. It’s kind of tough to move some things around. But like I said, Anthony’s a big part of this. I know he’s eventually going to be back up here helping us win a lot of ballgames down the stretch. When that day comes, I know he’s going to be ready.”
Judge said he spoke to Volpe, who will play primarily at short in Triple-A while top prospect George Lombard Jr. plays multiple infield positions, for 30-40 minutes Sunday night to “check in” on him, but did not disclose more than that.
Boone, of course, spoke to Volpe as well and said the player handled the news “like a pro.”
“I think he understands,” Boone said. “I’m sure he’s not thrilled about it and doesn’t necessarily love that idea because he’s obviously worked really hard to go through this [rehab]. Going into this we expected him, once his rehab was up, to be here and playing, and so that’s obviously changed over the last few weeks. But I think there’s part of him that gets it, too. Anthony’s a pro and I have no doubt he’ll handle it in the best way possible.”
Boone, among Volpe’s most fervent defenders the last three seasons during the shortstop’s ups and downs, mostly left emotion out of it while discussing the organization’s decision — the evidence of that the manager multiple times mentioning how well Caballero has played in Volpe’s absence.
Boone took the clinical approach as well when it came to speculating when Volpe might be back in the majors.
“There’s things out of his control,” Boone said.
Without saying it, one of those is if Caballero continues playing well and there are no injuries to the roster elsewhere, Volpe is effectively blocked.
“There’s no guarantees of anything,” Boone said. “The bottom line is, things have to happen, not necessarily all on his end, to open up a spot whenever that is. I mean, that’s major league sports, and when you have a lot of good players and competition, that’s the reality.”
