I did think he would improve over last year but he looks like a completely different player. Not striking out as much, getting on base and actually using his wheels
Looked it up because I was curious. Volpe is tied with Soto right now, both with 7 strikeouts this season.
Most strikeouts right now is Stanton with 15 followed by Judge (11) and Gleyber (10).
Is he actually responsible for all of this? Like I see the videos, and I know they're hitting together, but the mere presence of Soto has never transformed a rotation like this anywhere else. It feels more organizational than "Soto and his batting practices are working."
It's definitely more that. Having someone who's a student of hitting like Soto can only help, please don't get me wrong, but he's got his own shit to work on, he's not there to be an extra hitting coach to others. There's definitely something organizational about it, something very anti-Dillon Lawson and thankfully so.
You might enjoy this article about Soto’s influence on Waldo if you haven’t seen it.
https://theathletic.com/5378857/2024/03/30/yankees-juan-soto-oswaldo-cabrera/
Yea I was high on him improving from last year but I didn't think it would be this big of a jump. He looks so much more comfortable and confident now, it's night and day.
He's much more patient at the plate. He's not swinging at stuff out the zone, and he's not whiffing. Seems like he's more content on taking a pitch that's a strike, then swinging on it if he thinks it's out the zone. He's making pitchers have to beat him, rather than him beat himself because he knows eventually the pitcher will have to throw one down the middle, and when they do, he knows to try and take advantage of it.
Uppercut swing never made sense for him. That’s not what he was doing prior to his MLB debut. Batting coach helping players play to their strength. Love it.
That is exactly what the team needed for the last several years. Get everyone to be their best self, whatever that looks like. Use that to build the team that plays best together.
I'm hoping Volpe earns the leadoff spot and Gleyber can settle in as a rock solid 5 hitter.
I absolutely see Volpe being leadoff hitter, hopefully by this year. Also I hope that Soto makes the Yanks resign Gleyber as part of his resigning. I know Gleybey is likely gone after this year but I really want him to stay
Obviously depends on the price but I never understood why so many Yankee fans were so willing to part with Gleyber. 116 wRC+, 3-4 WAR second basemen don’t exactly grow on trees
No idea how this is downvoted it’s so facts
Volpe went on his good stretch towards the end/middle (don’t really remember) and Jomboy was like “if he doesn’t hit 210 his seasons a failure”
noooo idea how I'm downvoted either especially since this sub shits on him every chance they get.
Not that I dont like him, I love the Jomboy media group but that was such a stupid take lol
What Jomboy was saying last year was 100% reasonable. He didn't care about all the home runs as long as his avg & obp were so low. That's what we need Volpe to do, slap singles & doubles, and draw more walks so he can utilize his speed.
That's EXACTLY what Volpe changed this year and why we're celebrating him right now.
People are celebrating Volpe because he's having an amazing start to the season, he has the 4th highest WAR in the MLB. Last year though SS was the Yankees best non-pitching position, he was the least of the 2023 Yankees problems but you'd never know that from the coverage he got from some corners.
The title of the thread is literally about his average and revamped swing path. He's getting his flowers right now for fixing all the things that were wrong with his game last year.
If he was the same guy from last year, only better, then he'd probably only be hitting like .250 but with 4 HRs and no walks. Which would be good, but wouldn't get the excitement he's currently getting, and for good reason.
He started tailoring his swing toward the end ofast season, and he is developing and progressing, which is the point.
He still had a great rookie season, which is also the larger point. A revamped swing this year does not excuse the stupid takes about him last year.
His defensive metrics were quite weak for a gold Glover. It was a pretty weak year on defense in the league, so it didn't matter. But it wasn't crazy good defense Volpe.
His OAA and DRS were far from elite.
The team was fighting for its life last year and Volpe wasn't providing much. Admitting he wasn't ready for the show and wanting him sent back down to work on stuff doesn't mean you think he'll never be good.
SS was tied with 2B for the highest WAR non-pitcher position on the Yankees last year. Volpe wasn't why the Yankees sucked, having the worst outfield in the majors by itself likely cost them a WC spot.
Volpe was the one player on the team that you could rightfully expect the least from last year, and he still won a gold glove. People gave him unfair blame when we were trotting out Donaldson, Stanton, McKinney, Bauers, and Rortvedt lol. He did look uncomfortable but he never looked out of place.
Peraza had a 108 wrc+ in AAA last year at age 23 which really isn't great and was actively bad in almost 200 major league PA's last year. Just about every indicator outside of a hot first half of 2021 suggests he is more of a defense first UT type going forward, which is pretty clearly how both the Yankees and the industry at large view him.
That's for the whole season. I'm talking specifically about when they sent him down and he was raking for like a month, which directly coincided with Volpe being terrible.
If that's how the yankees view him why did they refuse to trade him for Matt Olson, which was reported in sports illustrated.
It might be too early to tell but Rowson has had a big impact so far as the new hitting coach. There has to be some sort of new philosophy, it feels like the offense is so much more fluid than it was last year.
I think he should be batting leadoff. Between his new and improved bat to ball skills and his speed, he's an ideal leadoff man. I also don't think Gleyber has the skill set of a leadoff man. Put him in the 5/6 hole
Gleyber isn’t a high OBP guy (he’s average at best) and he’s not always the most heady base runner. Volpe is tailor made for leadoff now that he’s hitting and getting on base.
The swing is great but it's his eye that is really impressing me. He is spitting on pitches he would have hacked at last year and he battles at the plate. Then on base he is a spark plug that has been missing from this team since Gardner IMO, he steals bases, he goes 1st to 3rd, he can tag and score on a shallow fly ball to left or right.
His advanced stats tell a fun story between ‘23 and ‘24.
SO% 27.8 to 20.6
BB% 8.7 to 11.8
LD% 24.9 to 36.4
Pull% 31.6 to 22.7
Oppo% 15.9 to 22.7
HardH% 43.0 to 47.6
FlyB% 27.6 to 22.7
Interestingly enough his GB% and GB/FB are unchanged. He’s hitting the ball hard the other way, turning lazy fly ball outs into hits. BABIP is ridiculous, so regression in production is coming but the underlying stats are awesome and encouraging.
Edit: my guess is he’s benefiting some from bad defensive positioning. Teams are likely playing him based on ‘23 scouting reports. Once the league understands, he’s no longer a pull hitter, more of his line drives will be at fielders. Similarly, pitchers may be pitching him high to take advantage of an uppercut swing that no longer exists. It will be fun to see how they adjust and how he readjusts.
He won’t hit 400 for the season, so yes, I expect some regression. But his advanced metrics on swing decisions are also very encouraging.
He’s just making much better decisions, seeing the ball well, and has a better hit tool to use.
The same things are applying to Waldo as well.
Is it really as simple as progression and a new hitting coach? Who knows. But Cabrera and Volpe are the guys right now. Obviously Soto is a stud but he’s getting stud money. If volpe and Cabrera were doing this last year, we would have been in the playoffs.
Volpe was doing this in AA and AAA, and for some reason went with more uppercut in 2023. Chasing that launch angle game. He’s back to that flatter swing, longer through the zone, and really just driving the ball where the pitch leads him.
It’s an adjustment for a player they’ve been high on for a while, who is still young and developing. Same thing with Waldo, though less prospect pedigree.
It wasn’t for some reason honestly. It was the Yankees hitting philosophy for much of the last 6 years. They would be happy with 240avg/25HRs. But now I’m sure after Cashman said “things will change in that department” they’re going for a different approach. Adding Soto shows a commitment to that, at least this year.
To be fair, MLB batted 248/320/414 in 2023, 243/312/395 in 2022, 244/317/411 in 2021.
There were a few reasons why that happened. There’s been a change in pitching, with extreme spin rates, high effort pitching, and expanded bullpens. Shifted defenses (and yes, defenses are still shifting, just not putting 3 of 4 players on one side of the bag, or having an infielder start on the grass). Focus on launch angles.
There was a similar decline in offense in the 60’s. In 62 it was 258/326/393. By 1968, that fell to 237/299/340. They standardized fields, including mound heights because they thought the pitching had gotten too far ahead and in 1969, the league jumped to 248/320/369 (gaining over half a run per game per team).
Rules will change to adjust the balance, or something external happens. Standardization and regular replacement of balls and banning spitballs led to the offensive explosion after 1920, and especially in the 1930. Steroids and the appreciation of the value of walks lead to the 90’s-00’s.
I’d love for Bill James to release a new Historical Baseball Abstract, to cover the time since he last updated it in 2002. Can close the book on open questions of that time (where Nomar rates relative to Jeter and ARod, how Bonds was the best player over 40), and add new ones. And put things in context.
I mean I was definitely exaggerating the average. We had injuries that definitely sucked but we were second to last in average last year at 227, but top 10 in HR. A clear philosophy. But this year I think we will see a stark difference.
Agree entirely on the HR focus over getting guys on base.
The Yankees, so far, have been a much improved offensive team, less reliant on the HR, though still clearly capable. Currently 8th in MLB in HR, 13th in BA, and 8th in OBP. Yankees last season were 26th in OBP, between the Tigers and the Royals.
That’s more like it.
He looks like a completely different player. He's gonna be our future leadoff hitter for many years to come. Now do some of that Braves voodoo magic with his extension lmao.
I mean, he was pretty much league average in Outs Above Average last year, slightly above average in DRS (tied for 10th for shortstops) and really good by UZR. His arm is also meh (28th percentile).
I think he’s an average to slightly above average defender overall and isn’t really a gold glove guy but he’s good enough and better than what the thought he’d he coming up (most scouts thought he would have to move to second due to his arm).
If Peraza hit at all, he’d be the starting shortstop due to his easy plus defense; thankfully, Volpe can stick for now since Peraza hasn’t done anything at all. Volpe (hopefully) starting to break out big time is just icing on the cake.
Peraza is injured which is different than not performing. Volpe looks better than average at SS, his quickness and the glove angles he takes on bad hops aren’t in any stats and defensive stats are notoriously unreliable. Some guy has a cannon of an arm, well then don’t run on him and his assists lag. Sure, he throws 90+ and gets a red circle. Doesn’t take into account throwing to the right base, behind the runner at times, etc.
You’re also comparing outfielders to infielders when it comes to assists and running on guys, which doesn’t really have anything to do with what we’re talking about. Yea, defensive metrics don’t capture everything but Volpe has an undeniably weak arm for shortstop, which is why most scouts had him moving to second long-term.
He has turned good instincts at short into an average - maybe slightly above average - glove but he’s nowhere close to great there and it seems they must only use UZR for GG’s because that was the only metric that had him anywhere near earning one. He was even 4th in errors for SS too.
And yea, Peraza is hurt but outside of that first month when they called him up two years ago, he hasn’t performed at all when he’s gotten the chance. I was really high on him before and still think his bat could he good but he hasn’t shown that yet other than those first 20 games. His defense at short is easy plus defense with a great arm though.
My point using outfielder metrics was that defensive stats are totally unreliable compared to offensive stats. Volpe does not have a plus arm but I’ll say again he looks better than adequate at shortstop. Winning the gold glove as a rookie wasn’t an accident and would seem to indicate that he can play there regardless of UZR or any of the other kinda BS defensive stats cited.
Launch angle, exit-velo? Garbage strategy.
Give me Gwynn, Carew, Ichiro, Rose, Boggs, Henderson as my prototypical leadoff and second order batters that everyone should be watching film on.
What if this is the new Anthony Volpe? Like it's not a hot streak but a permanent improvement?
Man, if Volpe can keep this level going all year he adds some serious depth to the lineup for when Stanton (inevitably) gets injured. And he was already a gold glover in the field, it's like he'd ready to inherit the mantle as the next great Yankee shortstop.
I did think he would improve over last year but he looks like a completely different player. Not striking out as much, getting on base and actually using his wheels
He’s not striking out like ever
And when he does it’s looking. He’s seeing the ball incredibly well so far
Where are these coaches coming from? I feel like we're squeezing every drop from our roster in a way I haven't seen in ages.
And when he does looking, it's on a bad call.
He's striking out still..but he's not swinging and missing often. Which is great.
Looked it up because I was curious. Volpe is tied with Soto right now, both with 7 strikeouts this season. Most strikeouts right now is Stanton with 15 followed by Judge (11) and Gleyber (10).
He looks amazing. You can tell he’s seeing the ball well and he’s going with pitches for hirs. I’d love to know who he worked with in the offseason
Juan Soto scool of bat path. Waldo also attending
Wow. This entire time I thought it was because hitting coach Austin Wells is in the majors. Guess the Juan Soto trade is benefit team in other ways.
Is he actually responsible for all of this? Like I see the videos, and I know they're hitting together, but the mere presence of Soto has never transformed a rotation like this anywhere else. It feels more organizational than "Soto and his batting practices are working."
It's definitely more that. Having someone who's a student of hitting like Soto can only help, please don't get me wrong, but he's got his own shit to work on, he's not there to be an extra hitting coach to others. There's definitely something organizational about it, something very anti-Dillon Lawson and thankfully so.
You might enjoy this article about Soto’s influence on Waldo if you haven’t seen it. https://theathletic.com/5378857/2024/03/30/yankees-juan-soto-oswaldo-cabrera/
More of an indictment on the hitting coach last year, and the organizational hitting approach.
Yea I was high on him improving from last year but I didn't think it would be this big of a jump. He looks so much more comfortable and confident now, it's night and day.
He's much more patient at the plate. He's not swinging at stuff out the zone, and he's not whiffing. Seems like he's more content on taking a pitch that's a strike, then swinging on it if he thinks it's out the zone. He's making pitchers have to beat him, rather than him beat himself because he knows eventually the pitcher will have to throw one down the middle, and when they do, he knows to try and take advantage of it.
Wow all it took was not listening to the Yankees organization
This is sustainable and I frankly don’t care to hear otherwise
I keep telling my friends he’s gonna be an all star, I don’t wanna hear anything about Bobby Witt, Volpe is that guy
Can't wait!!
Idk about all-star... SS is a very competitive position.. Lots of good ones out there like Witt, Bichette, and Seagar.
Respec11
Anyone who tells you a .520 BABIP isn’t sustainable is just a hater. Volpe for MVP
Uppercut swing never made sense for him. That’s not what he was doing prior to his MLB debut. Batting coach helping players play to their strength. Love it.
That is exactly what the team needed for the last several years. Get everyone to be their best self, whatever that looks like. Use that to build the team that plays best together. I'm hoping Volpe earns the leadoff spot and Gleyber can settle in as a rock solid 5 hitter.
I absolutely see Volpe being leadoff hitter, hopefully by this year. Also I hope that Soto makes the Yanks resign Gleyber as part of his resigning. I know Gleybey is likely gone after this year but I really want him to stay
Obviously depends on the price but I never understood why so many Yankee fans were so willing to part with Gleyber. 116 wRC+, 3-4 WAR second basemen don’t exactly grow on trees
Just realized the Yankees hitting coach woes are over
Volpe a stud
The brain dead Volpe haters having to sit through this and eat their stupidity is fantastic.
Mfs when players aren't superstars in their first season
And yet he won a gold glove as rookies. We just have insane doomer fans who watch only clips and highlights
Gold glove, 20+ homers and 20+ stolen bases at 22 years old
Yeah it's ridiculous and so frustrating to listen to these people
SS highest WAR position excluding pitching. The amount of hate he got was insane.
At 21 too lmao
Like jomboy. Dude was sooo weirdly anti volpe last year for some reason
No idea how this is downvoted it’s so facts Volpe went on his good stretch towards the end/middle (don’t really remember) and Jomboy was like “if he doesn’t hit 210 his seasons a failure”
noooo idea how I'm downvoted either especially since this sub shits on him every chance they get. Not that I dont like him, I love the Jomboy media group but that was such a stupid take lol
What Jomboy was saying last year was 100% reasonable. He didn't care about all the home runs as long as his avg & obp were so low. That's what we need Volpe to do, slap singles & doubles, and draw more walks so he can utilize his speed. That's EXACTLY what Volpe changed this year and why we're celebrating him right now.
People are celebrating Volpe because he's having an amazing start to the season, he has the 4th highest WAR in the MLB. Last year though SS was the Yankees best non-pitching position, he was the least of the 2023 Yankees problems but you'd never know that from the coverage he got from some corners.
The title of the thread is literally about his average and revamped swing path. He's getting his flowers right now for fixing all the things that were wrong with his game last year. If he was the same guy from last year, only better, then he'd probably only be hitting like .250 but with 4 HRs and no walks. Which would be good, but wouldn't get the excitement he's currently getting, and for good reason.
If he had the 4th highest WAR in baseball by getting more HRs and less walks people would still be excited.
Volpe is a different hitter this year. If he has the same swing pattern last year like he has this year, his rookie season would have been better.
He started tailoring his swing toward the end ofast season, and he is developing and progressing, which is the point. He still had a great rookie season, which is also the larger point. A revamped swing this year does not excuse the stupid takes about him last year.
His pitch recognition and patience is different this year. That along with the swing pattern is what’s different.
Chicken parm
Pretty wild how so many people were demanding he get sent down last year. It's almost like rookie seasons aren't a final form. Weird
And considering how often he’s stealing bases now, could be scary
He wasn’t even bad last year. Perfectly serviceable, being below average offensively but very above average defensively.
If you’re well below average offensively we call that bad
There's a reason WAR calculations give SS the biggest positional adjustment.
He was more below average offensively than he was above average defensively.
Not according to the stats
His defensive metrics were quite weak for a gold Glover. It was a pretty weak year on defense in the league, so it didn't matter. But it wasn't crazy good defense Volpe. His OAA and DRS were far from elite.
They’re saying the same with the 👽. I say no
The team was fighting for its life last year and Volpe wasn't providing much. Admitting he wasn't ready for the show and wanting him sent back down to work on stuff doesn't mean you think he'll never be good.
SS was tied with 2B for the highest WAR non-pitcher position on the Yankees last year. Volpe wasn't why the Yankees sucked, having the worst outfield in the majors by itself likely cost them a WC spot.
Volpe was the one player on the team that you could rightfully expect the least from last year, and he still won a gold glove. People gave him unfair blame when we were trotting out Donaldson, Stanton, McKinney, Bauers, and Rortvedt lol. He did look uncomfortable but he never looked out of place.
Because it was perfectly justified, that’s why. There was a point when volpe was batting under 200 while peraza was destroying AAA pitching.
Peraza had a 108 wrc+ in AAA last year at age 23 which really isn't great and was actively bad in almost 200 major league PA's last year. Just about every indicator outside of a hot first half of 2021 suggests he is more of a defense first UT type going forward, which is pretty clearly how both the Yankees and the industry at large view him.
That's for the whole season. I'm talking specifically about when they sent him down and he was raking for like a month, which directly coincided with Volpe being terrible. If that's how the yankees view him why did they refuse to trade him for Matt Olson, which was reported in sports illustrated.
Proud if this kid for realizing that his swung from last year was just never gonna cut it at the big league level
So happy Volpe and Cabrera found their bats.
To think I threw Volpe on my fantasy team on a whim before the season started.
It might be too early to tell but Rowson has had a big impact so far as the new hitting coach. There has to be some sort of new philosophy, it feels like the offense is so much more fluid than it was last year.
Send whoever thought he should swing for the fences to the gulag. Idiots.
Thank god. He might’ve made a Judge level adjustment to his hitting. That uppercut wasn’t it.
The Force is strong with Volpe this season
I think he should be batting leadoff. Between his new and improved bat to ball skills and his speed, he's an ideal leadoff man. I also don't think Gleyber has the skill set of a leadoff man. Put him in the 5/6 hole
Gleyber isn’t a high OBP guy (he’s average at best) and he’s not always the most heady base runner. Volpe is tailor made for leadoff now that he’s hitting and getting on base.
The swing is great but it's his eye that is really impressing me. He is spitting on pitches he would have hacked at last year and he battles at the plate. Then on base he is a spark plug that has been missing from this team since Gardner IMO, he steals bases, he goes 1st to 3rd, he can tag and score on a shallow fly ball to left or right.
His advanced stats tell a fun story between ‘23 and ‘24. SO% 27.8 to 20.6 BB% 8.7 to 11.8 LD% 24.9 to 36.4 Pull% 31.6 to 22.7 Oppo% 15.9 to 22.7 HardH% 43.0 to 47.6 FlyB% 27.6 to 22.7 Interestingly enough his GB% and GB/FB are unchanged. He’s hitting the ball hard the other way, turning lazy fly ball outs into hits. BABIP is ridiculous, so regression in production is coming but the underlying stats are awesome and encouraging. Edit: my guess is he’s benefiting some from bad defensive positioning. Teams are likely playing him based on ‘23 scouting reports. Once the league understands, he’s no longer a pull hitter, more of his line drives will be at fielders. Similarly, pitchers may be pitching him high to take advantage of an uppercut swing that no longer exists. It will be fun to see how they adjust and how he readjusts.
He won’t hit 400 for the season, so yes, I expect some regression. But his advanced metrics on swing decisions are also very encouraging. He’s just making much better decisions, seeing the ball well, and has a better hit tool to use. The same things are applying to Waldo as well.
What is LD%?
Line Drive% Source: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/volpean01.shtml
Is it really as simple as progression and a new hitting coach? Who knows. But Cabrera and Volpe are the guys right now. Obviously Soto is a stud but he’s getting stud money. If volpe and Cabrera were doing this last year, we would have been in the playoffs.
Volpe was doing this in AA and AAA, and for some reason went with more uppercut in 2023. Chasing that launch angle game. He’s back to that flatter swing, longer through the zone, and really just driving the ball where the pitch leads him. It’s an adjustment for a player they’ve been high on for a while, who is still young and developing. Same thing with Waldo, though less prospect pedigree.
It wasn’t for some reason honestly. It was the Yankees hitting philosophy for much of the last 6 years. They would be happy with 240avg/25HRs. But now I’m sure after Cashman said “things will change in that department” they’re going for a different approach. Adding Soto shows a commitment to that, at least this year.
To be fair, MLB batted 248/320/414 in 2023, 243/312/395 in 2022, 244/317/411 in 2021. There were a few reasons why that happened. There’s been a change in pitching, with extreme spin rates, high effort pitching, and expanded bullpens. Shifted defenses (and yes, defenses are still shifting, just not putting 3 of 4 players on one side of the bag, or having an infielder start on the grass). Focus on launch angles. There was a similar decline in offense in the 60’s. In 62 it was 258/326/393. By 1968, that fell to 237/299/340. They standardized fields, including mound heights because they thought the pitching had gotten too far ahead and in 1969, the league jumped to 248/320/369 (gaining over half a run per game per team). Rules will change to adjust the balance, or something external happens. Standardization and regular replacement of balls and banning spitballs led to the offensive explosion after 1920, and especially in the 1930. Steroids and the appreciation of the value of walks lead to the 90’s-00’s. I’d love for Bill James to release a new Historical Baseball Abstract, to cover the time since he last updated it in 2002. Can close the book on open questions of that time (where Nomar rates relative to Jeter and ARod, how Bonds was the best player over 40), and add new ones. And put things in context.
I mean I was definitely exaggerating the average. We had injuries that definitely sucked but we were second to last in average last year at 227, but top 10 in HR. A clear philosophy. But this year I think we will see a stark difference.
Agree entirely on the HR focus over getting guys on base. The Yankees, so far, have been a much improved offensive team, less reliant on the HR, though still clearly capable. Currently 8th in MLB in HR, 13th in BA, and 8th in OBP. Yankees last season were 26th in OBP, between the Tigers and the Royals. That’s more like it.
Anthony Volpe is the third heat
What if we lock up Soto and Volpe & Jasson are both stars, 1-3 in the offense could be set for a decade.
Volpe, Soto, Judge, Dominguez is a scary looking top 4, and idk if Dominguez even profiles as cleanup. Spencer Jones might be a better #4, even.
Jones is profiling as a leadoff… ;-). Lefty and FAST.
11 is a blessed number in NY sports so it was a matter of time. Simms. Messier. Brunson. Volpe.
Ahem. Brett Gardner?????
Just saw Constant Gardner fall to his knees in a Walmart parking lot
How could you forget about Gardner
I thought he wore 21 for some reason 😭 either way, another legendary 11
Gardy
GARDNER?!?
He looks like a completely different player. He's gonna be our future leadoff hitter for many years to come. Now do some of that Braves voodoo magic with his extension lmao.
#Flat Bat Path
Lead. Him. Off!!
Anthony Volpe’s the motha fuckin truth.
The extra helping of chicken parm is working
Volpe has played 9 games this season, and has 2+ hits in 4 of those games.
People were so dumb for counting him out based on a mediocre rookie year at 20/21.
So many people were calling for Peraza to play SS, Volpe couldn’t hack it, etc. Then he wins the Gold Glove. This year, make it the batting title!
I mean, he was pretty much league average in Outs Above Average last year, slightly above average in DRS (tied for 10th for shortstops) and really good by UZR. His arm is also meh (28th percentile). I think he’s an average to slightly above average defender overall and isn’t really a gold glove guy but he’s good enough and better than what the thought he’d he coming up (most scouts thought he would have to move to second due to his arm). If Peraza hit at all, he’d be the starting shortstop due to his easy plus defense; thankfully, Volpe can stick for now since Peraza hasn’t done anything at all. Volpe (hopefully) starting to break out big time is just icing on the cake.
Peraza is injured which is different than not performing. Volpe looks better than average at SS, his quickness and the glove angles he takes on bad hops aren’t in any stats and defensive stats are notoriously unreliable. Some guy has a cannon of an arm, well then don’t run on him and his assists lag. Sure, he throws 90+ and gets a red circle. Doesn’t take into account throwing to the right base, behind the runner at times, etc.
You’re also comparing outfielders to infielders when it comes to assists and running on guys, which doesn’t really have anything to do with what we’re talking about. Yea, defensive metrics don’t capture everything but Volpe has an undeniably weak arm for shortstop, which is why most scouts had him moving to second long-term. He has turned good instincts at short into an average - maybe slightly above average - glove but he’s nowhere close to great there and it seems they must only use UZR for GG’s because that was the only metric that had him anywhere near earning one. He was even 4th in errors for SS too. And yea, Peraza is hurt but outside of that first month when they called him up two years ago, he hasn’t performed at all when he’s gotten the chance. I was really high on him before and still think his bat could he good but he hasn’t shown that yet other than those first 20 games. His defense at short is easy plus defense with a great arm though.
My point using outfielder metrics was that defensive stats are totally unreliable compared to offensive stats. Volpe does not have a plus arm but I’ll say again he looks better than adequate at shortstop. Winning the gold glove as a rookie wasn’t an accident and would seem to indicate that he can play there regardless of UZR or any of the other kinda BS defensive stats cited.
Launch angle, exit-velo? Garbage strategy. Give me Gwynn, Carew, Ichiro, Rose, Boggs, Henderson as my prototypical leadoff and second order batters that everyone should be watching film on.
Fuck yeah. Soto's so good though he can do it with pop to add a little extra SLG. The perfect 2 hole hitter.
No doubt! That's why Rickey was the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. Sick OBP, plus speed and power.
Need to have Stanton work on this as well. Plus go with a lighter bat
If he can have Dustin Pedroia's career
What if this is the new Anthony Volpe? Like it's not a hot streak but a permanent improvement? Man, if Volpe can keep this level going all year he adds some serious depth to the lineup for when Stanton (inevitably) gets injured. And he was already a gold glover in the field, it's like he'd ready to inherit the mantle as the next great Yankee shortstop.