NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe was benched Sunday night for the finale of a critical four-game series against the rival Boston Red Sox.
Following a 7-2 victory that prevented a four-game sweep, Volpe said he won't start Monday night against Washington, either, but he expects to return to the lineup “after that.”
“As a competitor and as someone that takes pride and wants to be out there every day, you need to take it on the chin and you look for the positives,” Volpe said. “If I do what I've got to do, it’ll be where it is. That’s all I need.”
Volpe is mired in a 1-for-28 slump and leads the American League with 17 errors. New York started recently acquired utilityman José Caballero at shortstop Sunday night.
Volpe entered on defense with the Yankees leading 5-2 in the eighth inning and converted his only chance in the field. Caballero moved to right field.
“The only thing I can think of, at its worst, there were some things with my footwork and how I was attacking the balls that weren’t where they really needed to be,” Volpe said. “I think it’s been in a pretty good spot the last 2 1/2 weeks. We’ve been really working on some stuff."
Volpe is hitting .208 with 18 homers and 65 RBIs in 129 games this season. He has started 125 at shortstop and was not in the starting lineup for only the fifth time all year.
“Just scuffling a little bit offensively here over the last 10 days, (and) having Caballero,” manager Aaron Boone explained. “Cabby gives you that real utility presence that can go play anywhere.”
Volpe did not start for the second time in eight days. After going 0 for 9 in the first two games at St. Louis, he sat out the series finale last Sunday.
He went hitless in 10 at-bats over the first three games against the Red Sox. During a 12-1 loss on Saturday, he had a sacrifice bunt and committed a throwing error on a grounder by David Hamilton during Boston’s seventh-run ninth inning.
The 24-year-old Volpe batted .249 through his first 69 games. But since June 14, he is hitting .153 — and some Yankees fans have been clamoring for the team to sit him down.
Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2023 and hit .209 with 21 homers and 60 RBIs. He batted .243 with 12 homers last season when New York won its first AL pennant since 2009.
In the postseason, Volpe batted .286, including a grand slam in Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I think he handles it quite well,” Boone said about Volpe’s struggles. “I don’t think he’s overly affected by those things. Just a young player that works his tail off and is super competitive and is trying to find that next level in his game offensively. I think he’s mentally very tough and totally wired to handle all of the things that go with being a big leaguer in this city and being a young big leaguer that’s got a lot of expectations on him.”
Acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline, the speedy Caballero is hitting .286 in 15 games with the Yankees and .226 overall. Besides shortstop, Caballero has started at second base, third base and right field.
New York is 5 1/2 games behind first-place Toronto in the AL East and a half-game back of second-place Boston. The Red Sox, Yankees and Mariners are tightly bunched in a race for the three American League wild cards.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Larry Fleisher, The Associated Press
