MLB Pipeline polls carry wildly mixed results for Yankees’ Anthony Volpe

Much of the New York Yankees’ future rests on finding a spot for rising shortstop prospect Anthony Volpe and letting him take the reins.

Though there’s likely to be an adjustment period whenever Volpe does take over, as there was at both Double-A and Triple-A, the New Jersey native and lifelong Yankee fan’s instincts have been assessed as top-notch — as well as, you know, all his measurables, power numbers and counting stats.

Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, and with great responsibility and an interlocking NY on your hat comes … criticism. Just ask the last New Jersey-born Yankee fan who played the position in the Bronx for 20 years. If you’re talented and possess star quality, people who don’t root for the team that lives under the bright lights are going to call you … overrated.

Apparently, so will the league’s executives in an anonymous survey put forth by MLB Pipeline this week.

It’s difficult to figure out what to lead with here, and whether Volpe backers should be disturbed or flattered, but a poll of anonymous executives just named the Yankees prospect the second-most overrated minor-leaguer behind Pittsburgh’s Henry Davis, while also awarding him the title of “Highest Baseball IQ.” Jealousy? A lack of options? Weird!

Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe has best baseball IQ in minor leagues, is second-most overrated prospect? K.

All told, Volpe placed:

• 11th in the “Best Hitting Prospect” rankings
• Tied for 3rd for “Best Defensive Prospect” (9% of the vote, tied with Masyn Winn of STL)
• 1st in “Best Baseball IQ” with a remarkable 26% of the vote
• 2nd in “Most Overrated” with 10% of the vote

Shockingly, Jasson Dominguez — who observers have taken great joy in calling “overrated” with every day he doesn’t magically transform into Mike Trout — received votes, but didn’t place.

Also important to note the “overrated” segment was eventually pulled from the above article, after it received significant backlash. Not stunning! Who put this together, Randy Miller?

It’s unclear if this is backlash to Volpe’s pinstripes (it usually is), or whether evaluators are taking a bit of joy in the shortstop being unable to repeat his remarkable numbers from 2021 (even though he trended sharply upwards as the 2022 season dragged on).

Regardless, it’s definitely difficult to parse the glowing evaluations of Volpe’s poise and projections — some of which appear in this very same article! — and still come out on the other side deciding he’s overrated.

The Yankees have staked plenty on Volpe being able to approximate Derek Jeter’s impact on the next generation of Bombers greats, shrugging off several free agent shortstop overtures to give him a legitimate chance to change the culture.

They’ve also, however, named Aaron Judge captain for the (likely) duration of Volpe’s tenure, as well as kept Oswald Peraza in the system. If things don’t work out, the team’s bets have been very slightly hedged. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.