The Yankees have activated Anthony Volpe from the 10-day injured list and optioned the shortstop to Triple-A, as per a team announcement. Joel Sherman of the New York Post broke the news shortly before the Yankees’ official release.
After undergoing shoulder surgery last October, Volpe began this season on the 10-day IL to allow more time to fully recuperate. He began a minor league rehab assignment in April that has thus far consisted of 13 games (nine in Double-A, four in Triple-A), and today marked the final day of the 20-day window allotted for rehab assignments. The Yankees therefore had to decide on activating Volpe and adding him either to the big league roster, or optioning him to Triple-A.
The writing seemed to be on the wall yesterday when New York manager Aaron Boone said Volpe would be kept in the minors for the entirety of his 20-day rehab period. While Boone said Volpe was in “a really good spot and had a good rehab,” the skipper also noted that the shortstop “played, what, two-plus weeks of games. Spring Training is a lot longer than that. And he got a lot of live at-bats and reads in the field even leading up to that. He’s had pretty much close to a full Spring Training, but I don’t think it hurts to have him continue to play regularly.”
This rehab assignment had marked Volpe’s first taste of minor league ball since 2022, as had pretty much been a fixture at the Yankees’ shortstop position since he made his MLB debut on Opening Day 2023. As a consensus top-10 prospect in baseball, Volpe’s debut came with a ton of hype, and those (probably unfair) expectations have yet to be met over three big league seasons.
Volpe has hit .222/.283/.379 with 52 homers over 1886 career PA in the Show, translating to an 85 wRC+. He was at least a superb defender in his first two seasons and won the AL shortstop Gold Glove in 2023, but Volpe’s glovework also drastically dropped off last year, likely due to the fact that he played through much of the season with a partially torn left labrum.
New York acquired Jose Caballero from the Rays at last summer’s deadline, and the utilityman quickly made an impression upon his arrival in the Bronx, particularly when he filled in at shortstop when Volpe spent a week recovering from a cortisone shot. With the knowledge that Volpe could likely miss time at the start of the 2026 campaign to recover, the Yankees explored the shortstop market last winter but opted to stick with Caballero as the interim shortstop, and the results have been very solid.
Through 124 PA this season, Caballero is hitting .259/.306/.405 with four home runs, as well as 13 stolen bases in 17 attempts. Even his modest 99 wRC+ is still an improvement over Volpe’s career numbers, and Caballero has also put himself in the early Gold Glove conversation with his strong defensive play at shortstop.
The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” cliche may be the simplest answer behind the Yankees’ decision on Volpe. New York is 23-11 and its .676 winning percentage is the second-best in baseball, behind only the Braves. There isn’t any real pressing need for Volpe to be brought up now, and should Caballero start to struggle or if an injury arises elsewhere within New York’s infield, Volpe can easily be called up for his 2026 debut.
(In what may be a related item, Ben Rice is day-to-day with a left hand contusion that forced him out of today’s game. X-rays were negative on Rice’s hand, and the fact that the Yankees are still optioning Volpe is probably a sign that Rice might miss a game or two at most.)
In the bigger picture, it is fair to wonder if Volpe is still considered a key piece of the Yankees’ future plans. He is only in his first year of arbitration eligibility and is under team control through 2028, yet Volpe now finds himself in the position of seemingly having to just win his old job back, let alone figure out how to break out against MLB pitchers. New York has another top shortstop prospect in George Lombard Jr. knocking on the door for his big league debut, so Lombard might supplant Volpe if Caballero hasn’t done so already.
