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The New York Yankees have struggled quite a bit down the stretch, and their shortstop, Anthony Volpe, has been one of the team’s bigger issues.
While Volpe has hit his fair share of home runs this season, that’s about all he’s done to help the Yankees on the field. He ranks near the bottom of the league in average and OPS while also making as many errors as any infielder in baseball.
On Sunday, manager Aaron Boone benched Volpe, although Boone noted that this was a one-time thing.
Boone was recently asked about Volpe as a hitter, and he quickly came to his shortstop’s defense.
“A good one. Productive. I don’t care. Production comes in a lot of different ways. I think sometimes people want him, because he’s a shortstop with speed, to hit for a certain average and do certain things,” Boone told reporters, via reporter Gary Phillips. “No, productive offensive players come in many shapes and forms. So he’s got a lot of ability. He’s shown a lot of flashes of that. I think the next thing for Anthony, though, is the consistency part and limiting some of the peaks and valleys.”
Boone makes a good point. Not every good hitter is going to profile the same way as the other good hitters in baseball. In fact, there are typically some major differences in the best hitters in baseball.
But Volpe profiles poorly across the board. He doesn’t consistently get on base, and his average is near the bottom of the league, too. He’s hitting into soft outs more often than not.
Volpe is going to need some major adjustments to avoid running himself out of the league within a few years.
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