After a brutal midsummer stretch, the New York Yankees sit five games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East standings. There is still plenty of time left to make up ground, but the Yankees are facing an extended stretch without Aaron Judge and a highly consequential trade deadline. There's a lot riding on the next few days and weeks.
New York went into Tuesday's showdown with the Tampa Bay Rays hoping to even the series. It did not get off to a great start, however. In the second at-bat of the game, Jonathan Aranda smacked a grounder up the middle. It was a tough play, but one more shortstops can execute without problem. Volpe, caught between runners at first or second, decided to flip it to Jazz Chisholm for a potential double play. He, uh... well, he missed.
Anthony Volpe is having one of the most bizarrely awful defensive seasons we’ve seen since Jose Altuve in 2020. pic.twitter.com/P9ZnNq5CEd
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) July 29, 2025
That was Volpe's 14th error of the season, tied for the most in MLB with Elly De La Cruz and Manny Machado. He's in the 16th percentile for defensive range (-3 outs above average), per Baseball Savant, and the 34th percentile for arm strength. Unlike De La Cruz and Machado, Volpe is also in a rut offensively.
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Yankees need to slot Amed Rosario over Anthony Volpe in lineup
This is why the Yankees just made a trade for Amed Rosario. The Ryan McMahon trade netted a clear-cut starting third baseman, but Rosario arrived to a bit more uncertainty around his role. New York appears content to use him as a platoon option at a few different spots, but perhaps it's time to deploy the 29-year-old on a more full-time basis.
Rosario is not a great defender in his own right, but it's hard to be worse than Volpe. Though not a natural shortstop, Rosario should hold down the position well enough. If need be, New York can test out Chisholm or McMahon at short. McMahon is the best defender of the bunch, but moving him to short on the fly threatens to undermine that status. Chisholm is a more natural athlete for shortstop, but he prefers second base and has struggled with errors in his own right.
Even so, all three feel like more worthwhile experiments compared to whatever the heck is going on with Volpe right now. We can just be honest. Volpe's bat is not close to good enough to warrant the constant mental and physical errors on the field. He's batting .213 with a .683 OPS and 14 home runs, half of which came in an early-season barrage that has since subsided. That ol' torpedo bat is not cutting it anymore.
Why are the Yankees still running Anthony Volpe out there?
This is a simple question to answer, really. Volpe is still viewed as a long-term investment at 24 years old. He's a former top prospect, ironically once lauded for his defensive chops at a premium position. Perhaps this is a fluky stretch of mental wonkiness and it all subsides next season, but Volpe's confidence is shot. He's second-guessing every choice in the field and the bat is not keeping pace with his peers on the MLB roster.
He needs a full reset. Whether it's a move to the bench or even a demotion to Triple-A, the Yankees need to give Volpe some time to clear his head and work on the fundamentals. In the meantime, let Rosario, with his .744 OPS, get a crack in the starting lineup.