Outside of the injury bug biting the clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the biggest story out of Yankees camp is quite obvious. It’s how good the kids have looked during Grapefruit League action. That includes Jasson Dominguez, but more importantly, we’re talking about shortstop Anthony Volpe.
Dominguez has looked mightly impressive, but there’s no way he’ll be in the Bronx on Opening Day. He’s only played five games above Single-A so far during his young career. But Volpe? He entered camp with a very slim chance of winning the everyday shortstop job, even though Oswald Peraza appeared to be the favorite.
The kid is playing like he belongs, though. So much so that the new captain, Aaron Judge, indirectly gave his support for Volpe heading north with New York in a couple of weeks. But it’s not that easy when looking at the infielder logjam on the Yankees’ current roster.
Outside of Peraza, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Gleyber Torres, Josh Donaldson, and D.J. LeMahieu are all present. Volpe — who is slashing .333/.459/.667 with six extra-base hits (four doubles, two homers) — may very well be deserving of an Opening Day roster spot.
However, The Athletic‘s Chris Kirschner outlined the various obstacles working against the soon-to-be 22-year-old top prospect.
The realistic pathway for Anthony Volpe to make the opening day roster:
– Has to start with an IKF trade.
– After that, the path is still difficult. There are still too many infielders. Two of Torres/DJ/JD/Peraza/Volpe would have to come off the bench
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) March 15, 2023
– A clearer path would be both an IKF and Torres trade. That would give the Yankees more flexibility in having both Volpe and Peraza on the team.
– There's a serious middle IF crunch and without some maneuvering, it's hard. It's not as easy as saying VOLPE. OPENING DAY. NOW.— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) March 15, 2023
This is something Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been trying to do most of the winter. At various times, we’ve heard reports of IKF, Donaldson, and Torres all being available via trade.
Who knows what the market looks like right now, but you’d have to assume the most attractive options are IKF and Torres. They’re versatile enough, productive enough, and cheap enough (financially speaking) for a deal to potentially go down in the next couple of weeks.
In an ideal — and simple — world, the Yankees would likely hand over the keys for starting shortstop to Volpe. Or, at least put Peraza at short and Volpe at second base, which is a combination we’ve seen more than once so far this spring. But it’s not that simple given the types of veterans on New York’s roster.
Since Volpe has only played in 22 games above Double-A, it seems like he’s ticketed for Scranton to start the year…unless something drastic happens. Opening Day is right around the corner, but there’s still enough time for things to change. Crazier things have happened.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
