LOS ANGELES — As a die-hard Yankees fan who idolized Derek Jeter while growing up in New York and New Jersey, Anthony Volpe traveled to Minneapolis in 2014 for the Hall of Fame’s final All-Star Game.
Included in that trip was watching the Futures Game, two days before the rookies took the stage at Target Field.
Eight years later, Volpe was in the futures game again – this time cleaning up the bat and playing for the AL team at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s not too often you get to play against the best of the best, so I’m really excited,” Volpe said before going 0-for-2 with two strikeouts. “It’s been crazy so far. It is something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
For the 21-year-old Volpe, the No. 8 prospect in baseball according to MLB.com, the experience was even more special because he got to represent (along with outfielder Jason Dominguez and pitcher Ken Waldychuk) the team he grew up rooting for.
Anthony Volpe Getty Images
“It’s a huge honor to represent the Yankees — in everything we do — but just to be here with JD and Ken, it’s a super honor,” Volpe said.
The other side of being a top prospect, of course, is being included in trade rumors for top players, especially as part of a World Series contending organization like the Yankees. Although the news that Nationals superstar Juan Soto could be dealt before the Aug. 2 trade deadline put Volpe’s name in any potential deal with the Yankees, he wasn’t thinking about that possibility.
“It’s super out of my control,” Volpe said. “I’m here in L.A. with some of the best secondary players in the game. … It’s just a great, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and if I spent any brain power thinking about it, it would take a lot of the fun out of it.”
Volpe started the season slowly at Double-A Somerset, hitting .165 with four home runs and a .607 OPS through his first 29 games. But over his last 48 games, he’s hitting .303 with eight home runs and a .933 OPS. Overall this year, he is batting .253 with an .812 OPS while going 35-for-39 in stolen bases.
That comes after an offseason in which the Yankees didn’t sign any of the top players on the free-agent market — in part because of Volpe and Triple-A shortstop Oswald Peraza, the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect behind Volpe. Both were mentioned by Hal Steinbrenner during spring training when he explained that the club was not pursuing stars like Carlos Correa, Corey Seager and Trevor Story.
“Obviously it’s great to hear from a guy like that,” Volpe said. “But at the end of the day, I feel like I have a long way to go. This is obviously a great step in my career, but there is still a lot of work to do. Even though I hope to get there one day, there’s still a lot of work to do to be the player I want to be and hopefully win a lot of World Series.”
Add Comment