Anthony Volpe names Yankees shortstop targets as his inspirations
Would New York Yankees super prospect Anthony Volpe have trouble sharing an infield with Carlos Correa? What about Trevor Story? Couldn’t that get awkward, just as he’s on the rise himself?
Doesn’t sound like it, based on the information Volpe volunteered on Tuesday. After all, how upset can you really be playing alongside your heroes?
Though Spring Training is not proceeding as normal, some of the biggest names in the Yankees system are gathered in Florida, rocking the ST hats we were worried we’d never see while participating in a prospect minicamp for non-40-man names.
And even in a group also highlighted by Jasson Dominguez, nobody’s drawn attention quite like Volpe — especially as the team remains silent in the shortstop market.
So, who will be the next great Yankees shortstop? Will he be homegrown, or store bought? It won’t be Gleyber Torres — and that’s about all we know, at the moment.
Volpe wants the gig, and he might have a shot as soon as 2023. For now, though, he’s going to keep refining his game in the image of several players Yankee fans are intimately familiar with by now.
When asked who he’s inspired by and who he watches, Volpe began with Francisco Lindor (local, convenient), then named the two biggest targets remaining on the market: Correa and Story.
Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe inspired by Carlos Correa, Trevor Story
Just after the video cuts off, he says, “Oh, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, too!”
Volpe’s experience in the media scrum appears to have gone smoothly; beat writers like Lindsey Adler remarked on his maturity, and he answered a wide variety of questions.
And, yes, he was probably giving fans a bit of catnip here, naming the best shortstops in the league as those he tries to emulate — both in-game and during offseason training, an arena in which Volpe has been tireless both this year and last.
Regardless of the likelihood, it’s good to know that Volpe opened his circle as far as Story and didn’t cut it off at the game’s consensus top two shortstops. Perhaps that was the tiniest possible recruitment pitch, considering Story appears unwilling to change positions?
Fans probably won’t hate that he snubbed Xander Bogaerts, either.