By Sal Maiorana
July 3, 2024
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Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.
For Sal's complete analysis on the New York Yankees, you can subscribe to Sal Maiorana's free Pinstripe People Newsletter at https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe.
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Note From Dr. Sem - I have not talked to Sal about any of this. Either he is brillaint (great minds think alike) or he read some of the articles and discussion here yesterday - or both. :)
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Anthony Volpe Has Become The Yankees Biggest Problem on Offense
It was yet another night where the Yankees were aterrible on offense with the exception of the indomitable Aaron Judge, and when the starting pitching is as horrible as it has been the last two-plus weeks, you have a pretty clear cut recipe for defeat, even if the opponent is Cincinnati.
And while Anthony Volpe certainly isn’t the only dead spot in the lineup these days, he has become the Yankees biggest problem on offense. Volpe has one job batting leadoff - to get on base for the big boppers behind him, Juan Soto and Judge, and he has been beyond abysmal for nearly a month.
“It’s been a rough week for him,” Boone said after Volpe’s 0-for-5. “Teams are attacking him in the strike zone.”
Rough week? Dude, pay attention.
On June 5 after a three-hit night against the Twins, Volpe was slashing a terrific .290/.355/.448 with an OPS of .803 and doing exactly what the Yankees needed him to do.
Since then, he’s been one of the worst hitters in all of MLB. In the 24 games since, he’s slashing .190/.213/.248 with an OPS of .461. In case you’re wondering, those numbers are laughable.
And because he’s leading off and thus has more plate appearances (390) than anyone on the team, his colossal slump has turned him into a titanic detriment. He’s now in a 20-for-105 slump, and Boone has to pull the plug and move him down the order, but of course, Boone isn’t going to do anything.
“He probably is missing some pitches early in counts where he’s getting a good pitch to hit,” Boone said. “He’s fouled a lot of pitches off, probably expanding a little more than he has at times this year. Confident he’ll come through it.”
Of course Boone would say that. That’s what Boone always says because it’s impossible for him to confront problems head on, especially when it comes to slumping players. He finally benched Gleyber Torres last week, though that was more because of his lack of hustle running out a ground ball rather than his own nightmarish offensive season. So as Boone and the rest of us wait for Volpe to come out of it, he will continue to kill the offense and not provide Soto and Judge better RBI opportunities.
If it was me making out the lineup card, I would put Soto in the leadoff spot with Ben Rice at No. 2 in front of Judge. Soto’s greatest strength is that he draws a million walks so he’s on base all the time. I sometimes wish he would stop trying to draw a walk every time up there and start swinging to do real damage, but that’s just not who he is.
Rice at No. 2 isn’t so much about him being great so far, but with a .270 average he’s certainly been more productive than any of these other bums not named Soto and Judge. Seriously, who else could possibly bat second? I’ll save you the time thinking of an answer because there isn’t one. So give the kid a chance.
Of course this won’t happen, either, because even if Boone did move Volpe out, Soto apparently wants no part of batting leadoff and much prefers to hit second or third. Fun times these days with the Yankees, aren’t they?
