Yankees fans, media losing their minds over Anthony Volpe has reached insane heights

Two things can be true. Anthony Volpe is only 24 years old and still has room to grow as a player. Anthony Volpe was also an overhyped prospect who has major flaws in his game and might need to be accepted for who he is. He isn't bad. But he also isn't good. We're not sure what the New York Yankees believe, though it seems he is still viewed as the shortstop of the future and will be given the longest leash possible.

Here's the thing, though. Flipping out over Anthony Volpe accomplishes absolutely nothing. If fans and media members are still out there complaining about how he hasn't fulfilled his top prospect pedigree, then they're either in denial or haven't watched enough baseball.

Newsflash! So many prospects do not pan out. It's the unfortunate reality of the sport. It's not Anthony Volpe's fault the Yankees anointed him the shortstop of the future after just a handful of games at Triple-A. They put a ton of pressure on him. At times he's lived up to the billing. Most times he's been a disappointment.

Sports debates are as toxic as they can possibly be in the modern era, with few rational voices leading the way for coverage. Social media is now a sounding board for critics who don't have an athletic bone in their body. It's unfortunate.

That all reared its ugly head when Volpe grounded out with the bases loaded to end Monday night's game. He swung at the first pitch and drilled it directly into the ground, which has been a pain point with his game. Everybody decided to lose their minds despite the fact he's hitting .250 with a .732 OPS in June. Is that special? No. But it's not a "this guy can't play baseball" take.

And you know what Yankees fans especially don't need? Mets fans talking about a prospect not panning out for the Yankees. That is the story of the Mets' existence.

Yankees fans, media losing their minds over Anthony Volpe has reached insane heights

The sooner fans realize Volpe is a solid defender and bottom of the order bat that can do damage in spurts, the better off everybody will be. We've written him off as a future cornerstone piece of the organization long ago. That's not a knock on him, either. He has value on this team. He's not going to turn into what everybody thought he would be just because you keep yelling about it.

Fans are twisting themselves into fits of rage over this, and it's simply no longer worth it.

We can't just be creating arbitrary parameters for what we view as "acceptable" or "excusable" for Volpe, either. That ship has sailed. Just because he grounded out on the first pitch he saw in extras when the Angels brought in a new reliever didn't mean he made the wrong choice: he guessed fastball, which that reliever (Hunter Strickland) throws nearly 1/3 of the time. He guessed wrong.

This Yankees team has feasted on being aggressive early in counts this year. Now all of a sudden it's a bad way to attack opposing pitchers?

The Yankees are freezing cold right now. Tensions are high. They just dropped five of six to their hated rival. Everybody's mad. But let's give up the vitriol directed at Volpe. You've watched enough games at this point to know what kind of player he is. He's not a savior, at least not right now, and he's not going to turn games on their head.

He might become the one everybody envisioned. But chances are he won't. And that's fine. The Yankees don't need him to be a superstar. They just need to keep him out of the spotlight and let him find those promising rhythms, which we've seen plenty of this year.

Plus, this entire offense hasn't scored in week. It's not just on Volpe.