New York Yankees Continue To Back SS Anthony Volpe Despite Hitting Slump
The New York Yankees are one of the best teams in the American League. However, they have been in a bit of a slump lately, only winning two of their last nine games. The Boston Red Sox swept them at Fenway before losing three out of four at home to the Los Angeles Angels. One player who has been struggling at the plate is shortstop Anthony Volpe. Now in his third year, the team was looking for him to become one of the premier bats in the lineup. That hasn’t happened this year, but the team made it clear they are still supporting their young player.
New York Yankees Anthony Volpe
Anthony Volpe hasn’t had a hit for the New York Yankees in his last 24 at-bats. In the month of June, he is hitting .194, and his OPS is currently the worst on the roster among qualified hitters. Despite this, the young shortstop has played in every game since May 4th. Manager Aaron Boone is giving him the day off on Sunday to try to give him some rest and hopefully get his head right. AL MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge threw his support behind Volpe with some encouraging words.
“You’ve been there before. Just go out there and do your thing. Don’t feel bad for yourself—especially because the Orioles won’t feel bad for you.”
Slumps happen in baseball all the time. When players start to try to force hits, they end up chasing more pitches, something Volpe has been guilty of as of late.
Wait It Out
The New York Yankees will continue to wait it out. We’ve seen this happen with players, and the team would rather this kind of slump happens in June rather than in September or October. Despite the recent struggles, the Yankees still hold one of the best records in the majors and have talent up and down the roster. They can afford for one of their key players to struggle for a little bit.
With that said, Anthony Volpe needs to figure out how to get back to getting on base. The pitching has been suspect at times, and the team needs the offense to score plenty of runs. Yankee Stadium is the perfect ballpark for run-scoring. It will be interesting to see if the day off on Sunday does him some good.
Final Thoughts
This is something to monitor, but the New York Yankees are still in control in the AL East for now. There is plenty of season left, but the Volpes’ play will be under a microscope for the next few weeks.
