Sunday is the final day of Anthony Volpe‘s 20-day minor league rehabilitation period, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty) that Volpe will remain at Double-A Somerset for the entirety of the 20-man window, and “then we’ll kind of reevaluate where we are.” Once the rehab period is up, the Yankees must either reinstate Volpe to the active roster or option the shortstop to Triple-A.
As Volpe finishes up his recovery from October shoulder surgery, it can’t be ignored that the Yankees haven’t really missed him at shortstop. Jose Caballero has delivered strong defense at the position, speed (a league-best 12 stolen bases), and a .266/.310/.422 slash line over 116 plate appearances. The offensive numbers translate to an above-average 105 wRC+, which is significantly better than the 85 wRC+ Volpe has posted over 1886 PA in three seasons in the Bronx. While the Yankees didn’t make a bigger addition over the offseason to officially bump Volpe out of the starting shortstop role, Caballero might’ve simply pipped Volpe out of the job, leaving Volpe in something of an uncertain state within the organization.
Some other items from the AL East….
- An MRI on Garrett Crochet‘s left shoulder revealed only inflammation, Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other reporters. Crochet won’t start throwing until at least Monday, as the southpaw will work on shoulder-strengthening exercises over the weekend. While Tracy said there’s “no timetable on” when Crochet could be back in Boston’s rotation, it remains possible the left-hander may still miss only the minimum 15 days on the IL, though obviously the team won’t rush their ace until he is fully ready.
- In other Red Sox rotation news, Sonny Gray threw a three-inning live batting practice session on Friday, in what could be the last step before his activation from the 15-day IL. Gray hasn’t pitched since April 20 due to a hamstring strain, but the injury is seemingly minor enough that Gray could be back in Boston’s rotation as early as Wednesday.
- Jose Berrios will make his fourth rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Buffalo, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling). It is possible this may be Berrios’ final tune-up, as the right-hander tossed 70 pitches in his previous outing on April 28, and felt good after throwing a bullpen session yesterday. A stress fracture in his right elbow has kept Berrios from pitching in the majors this season, and he also dealt with biceps tendon inflammation late in 2025 that kept him from participating in the Jays’ playoff run.
The production is what it is and we thank him for it, but Caballero’s underlying offensive data is fugly. Besides, Volpe wouldn’t be replacing Caballero on the roster, but Max Schuemann and let’s be serious here, that’s very likely an upgrade. Even if Volpe is back at short, they can keep riding Caballero’s hot hand while moving him around to different positions (including shortstop sometimes, as Volpe generally has hit better with extra rest), which was kind of the whole idea with acquiring him in the first place.
Unless they’re concerned with Volpe’s defense, in which case it’s fair enough to stick with Caballero.
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jose-caballer…
All blue in hitting and the Yankees know this. I expect Volpe to be the everyday SS next week.
And that mindset is one of the reasons the team has gone ringless since 09, they think are a smart team like the dodgers and rays but in reality Cashman is overconfident C grade student who thinks he’s still a valedictorian in the modern age
Yeah, better to be lucky than good and etcetera, but you would prefer not to bank on being lucky.
On the exact link u sent, batting, baserunning, fielding run values are all red (great). He has tough at bats, messes with pitchers in the box and on the bases and is top of the class defensively at SS by at least 1 defensive metric. DRS. If you watch the games you know what he brings. Volpe brings empty at bats. It’s been 3 years and he hasn’t improved. He will not be the starting SS and may be optioned since the position he’d fill on the roster is almost the same as Rosario, who’s doing great at what he’s asked to do
If Bello has another usual 3.2 inning 85 pitch 4 walk 5-6 run performance he will be in AAA by Wednesday. Gray can’t come back soon enough lol
They can’t score runs when they get good pitching. Doesn’t matter at this point. Bello could go 9 and give up 2 runs and they’ll still lose. Awful roster construction. Last year we had Devers and bregman. Adios to Devers and missed out on bringing bregman back. Like bregman is some sort of masher anyways. Contreas is no Ortiz or Manny type power. Duran sucks this year and anthony can’t do anything. So gray coming back sooner or later really doesn’t matter
Oh dude I know. Front office is arrogant as it gets with their aversion to no trade clauses. Contreras is good, but he can’t be THE guy. They only look at things on paper and completely ignore the human element. Like putting the pressure on a 21 year old to be the face of a franchise or expecting 5 outfielders to be perfectly fine not playing every day because they couldn’t solve the log jam. Breslow is the Zuckerberg of baseball- a true lizard person. Everything he says sounds scripted and disingenuous
It’s concerning that Anthony and Mayer both seem to hit almost everything on the ground these days. The hard hit rate that Anthony was known for is almost non-existent right now. I don’t know what the team’s hitting philosophy is this season but it isn’t working. Not going to win a lot of games going 1 for 8 with RISP, even if the one is a 3-run Home Run
Bennett pitched well enough to get another look to me. Probably could have gone longer than 5 innings if he didn’t throw a lot of pitches in the first two innings but when he got into trouble he pitched his way out of it. Bello has to be on the bubble in his next start, can’t keep having going out and getting shelled every 5th day. Maybe being sent to the minors would be good for him, give him a chance to reset mentally and work on getting his pitches down, not in the middle of the zone where hitters are teeing off on him