Anthony Volpe injury conspiracy theory gains more steam after Yankees' struggles

New York Yankees fans will always appreciate someone valiantly playing through pain. New York Yankees fans will also remain fatalistic about severe injuries interfering with their grand plans until they experience a season that isn't derailed by a series of stunners. That said ... as much as we fear injuries and want to see players jump back up and resume their participation in the action, there comes a time when enough is enough. Reality always wins out.

It didn't take a doctor to realize that, even though the Yankees couldn't afford an Anthony Rizzo injury in 2023, they were living in the middle of one as the first baseman plodded through the summer with reduced reaction time due to an undiagnosed concussion.

This summer, it seems as if Anthony Volpe is suffering from similar physical deterioration after a nasty fall in early May that appeared to knock him out long-term, but somehow only resulted in a single missed day. As it turns out, maybe the good news and exhale was a bit exaggerated?

As Meredith Marakovits pointed out in a line of questioning on Monday, Volpe has been icing up his left shoulder fairly consistently since the initial incident. Since then, his offensive production has cratered after early progress, and his defensive skittishness has also increased. While the issue — a "pop" Volpe heard when he dove headlong — manifested in his non-throwing shoulder, everything seems to have spiraled from that day forward.

Given Brian Cashman's tacit admission that Volpe has been "playing through things," it doesn't seem so crazy to think the Yankees have been holding him together with gum and tape as his reputation in baseball's harshest city has taken some lumps. It wouldn't be the first time the Yankees hit the gas with someone who required a long-term reset.

Anthony Volpe injury theory could definitely explain Yankees' struggles

The Yankees' primary goal these days appears to be to protect Volpe, though their actions after his initial injury stand in direct contrast to that idea. His April OPS of .764 was beyond acceptable as a first step, and things have gotten progressively worse in every month that's followed: .704, .665, .462. The league-leading number of errors feel like the result of a previously confident player operating cautiously. The off-target throws tell a similar story.

The "pop" Volpe felt doesn't appear to have been season-ending or require surgical intervention, but it's sapped both his strength and reputation. He's absorbed repeated hits to his confidence resulting from some ill-advised blanket defenses from management. Because of the team's insistence on running counter operations, he's been forced to "play through" so much more than pain, and the denial is becoming more farcical by the day. Maybe it's time to get Cashman on the record about what exactly happened in early May. The Volpe we saw before that date was the one we were hoping for in Year 3, after all.