The New York Yankees' struggles this season have mainly fallen on the shoulders of their manager, Aaron Boone.
Some criticism against Boone is fair, but he cannot go onto the field to correct his players' physical mistakes. New York's shortstop, Anthony Volpe, has more physical mistakes, also known as errors, than any other defender in the American League, with 16. Tied with Volpe for the Major League Baseball lead is shortstop Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds.
Volpe, a former first-round pick by the Yankees in 2019, has not lived up to expectations, already in his third season since he made his debut in 2023. Will the Yankees consider moving on from the 24-year-old when the season concludes?
New York Yankees fans' most significant gripe with Boone and the organization is that they coddle Volpe whenever he makes a mistake in the field or goes into an extended slump at the plate.
However, during this season, Volpe's extended slumps last longer than he'd probably want. As he progressed through the Yankees' minor league system, much of the talk surrounding him centered on his exceptional offensive abilities, combining a high contact rate with blistering speed.
"Over the next three months, pitchers adjusted and threw fewer of those pitches [fastballs, splitters, cutters] and more breaking balls. Volpe lost his confidence, and his strength became a weakness. He couldn't hit fastballs or anything else, and in June, he fell into a 0-for-25 skid," FanSided's Lucas Babits-Feinerman wrote about Volpe on Yanks Go Yard. "From May through July, he hit .206/.266/.393 in 302 plate appearances, and his defense earned him ire on the back pages of the New York tabloids."
At the trade deadline, the Yankees acquired Amed Rosario from the Washington Nationals and Jose Caballero from the Tampa Bay Rays. Both players can fill in at shortstop, with Caballero performing as the better defender of the two. Aside from more power from the Yankees' starting shortstop, Volpe and Caballero's offensive profiles are similar.
Volpe's slugging percentage in July was a solid .409, as he smashed seven homers. But he hit just .172 in 93 at-bats, walking twice compared to 18 strikeouts.
"Then the calendar turned to August, and good Volpe was back. Five games into the month, he was hitting .333/.368/.722," wrote Babits-Feinerman. "Whether that is a trend or an apparition in a small sample size remains to be seen, but what is clear is that Volpe is no longer untouchable.
"There are 18 qualified shortstops with a higher OPS than Volpe, and he leads the league in errors. I know the fans are all hoping good Volpe sticks around for the rest of the season and puts this discussion to rest, but an improvement at shortstop is one of the easiest paths to make the team better."
Caballero does not reach free agency until 2030, but he cannot be the answer to the New York Yankees' problems at shortstop if they trade Volpe during the offseason. Prospect George Lombard Jr. is just 20 and remains a season or two away from making his MLB debut.