Welcome to 2023 and another anticipated MLB/MiLB season.
As we have done in years past, we at Legends on Deck like to look at the next up and coming prospects the game has to offer and give our input as to where we feel they will end up.
For our prior picks, you can check them out here – LOD Prospects on Deck.
Now we start the new year off as we left off in 2022, with a player that can become a staple in the Yankees roster like many other homegrown talents before him.
In 2019, the New York Yankees drafted a local kid, Anthony Volpe, as their 30th pick in the 1st round of the June Amateur Draft. Volpe, a native of Watchung, NJ, was taken straight out of Delbarton High School, in Morristown, NJ.
In his first pro ball season, the then 18 year old shortstop appeared in 34 games with the Pulaski Yankees (Rookie Ball) and amassed seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, 11 RBIs and 23 walks through 121 at bats.
After the 2020 season was cancelled for minor league baseball due to the Covid Pandemic, the Yankees sent Volpe to the Tampa Yankees in 2021 to start the season with the Low A ball affiliate in the Florida State League. Through 54 games, Volpe batted .302, with 18 doubles, five triples, 12 home runs, 49 RBIs and 51 walks. He was then promoted to the Hudson Valley Renegades in High A, and he just kept showcasing his stroke as he batted .286, with 17 doubles, a triple, 15 home runs, 37 RBIs and 27 walks. He finished the year with 27 home runs and 86 RBIs, through 109 games.
The Yankees kept rising the top prospect through the ranks as he started the 2022 season with the Double A Somerset Patriots, appearing in 110 games, while batting .251, with 31 doubles, four triples, 18 home runs, 60 RBIs and 57 walks.
On September 2, the Yankees Top Prospect and MLB’s #8 overall, was sent to the highest team in New York’s minor league farm system, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railraiders. In his first game, he recorded his first Triple A hit, then the next day, he had his first 3-hit game with the Railraiders. Two days later he recorded another 3-hit game, then to round out his 6-game hit streak, he hit two home runs on September 8th. Overall in Triple A, he appeared in 22 games, recording two doubles, a triple, three home runs, five RBI’s and eight walks.
Now what is in store for the Top Prospect in 2023, will he make his MLB debut?
According to some Yankees blog sites, there is some excitement that the Yankees may indeed give Volpe an opportunity to win the starting shortstop position out of Spring Training.
Actually the Yankees #3 Top Prospect Oswaldo Peraza, the other top Yankees shortstop prospect, made his MLB debut on September 2, 2022 and played in 18 games (12 at short). After batting .274, with 16 doubles and 19 home runs with the Railraiders, Peraza got his chance with the Yankees and five days after his debut, he recorded his first MLB hit in a 3-hit game. He finished with the Yankees batting .306, with three doubles, a home run and two RBIs.
So the message the Yankees are sending to their younger ball players; no job is a sure thing and if you want to be on the roster, you have to earn it, and that’s how it should be.
If Volpe does impress enough to be rewarded with the starting nod at shortstop, and Peraza also shows he deserves the position, there may be room to switch Peraza to second base where he also saw some reps in 2022. The only issue with that is Gleyber Torres had a comeback year with 24 home runs and 76 RBIs through 140 games. So barring a slow start from Torres, the Yankees may have a logjam at shortstop, but that won’t be a bad thing.
Volpe may look like the better option to become the next Yankees starting shortstop, and put up better numbers then his fellow top prospect and also Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who the Yankees received in a trade last March from the Minnesota Twins, who received him in a trade the day before from the Texas Rangers. Kiner-Falefa, a light hitting shortstop, may see limited play, if Volpe is the real deal.
If Volpe becomes the Yankees next shortstop, then all the hype will have paid off, which reminds Yankees fans of another anticipated Yankees top prospect at short, who stole the show back in 1996, and never looked back.
We wish Volpe much success in his up coming and promising MLB career.
The post Prospects On Deck: Yankees – Anthony Volpe, SS appeared first on Legends On Deck.
