Yankees insider drops Anthony Volpe nugget that could help explain repeated struggles

Despite getting nothing of substance from Hal Steinbrenner/Brian Cashman/Aaron Boone's end-of-year press conference, Yankees fans were treated to a subtle nugget that could shift the perception on Wednesday. As always, credit to the beat writers for standing on business, even when relegated to Zoom.

On Wednesday, amid swirling rumors, Gary H. Phillips of the New York Daily News finally took the plunge and reported on the Yankees' less-than-stellar buy-in to offensive data. Wondering why the pitching side has always been so ahead-of-the-curve under Matt Blake, while the lineup has seemingly lagged behind other analytically-inclined teams like the Brewers and Rays? According to Phillips, certain (ahem) veterans in the locker room have been reticent to listen to the numbers.

Now, there are always going to be different approaches that work better for different players. There shouldn't be a cookie-cutter method that fosters unnecessary discomfort. But for years, fans have always ... sort of ... assumed that Dillon Lawson and his ilk just didn't communicate properly, and that the message was falling on deaf ears because of the men in charge, not because of unilateral walls that are always up when it comes to that type of intervention.

As Phillips wrote, there may be more heels dug in than previously thought. It's not everyone, but thanks to one fan's tweet, we can now name some names and correct some amateur assessments of who's into what.

According to Yankees Stats' attempt to break down the "warring" factions, it would make logical sense that young players who grew up in a system inundated by data would be more comfortable ("Ben Rice, George Lombard Jr., Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Spencer Jones"). Conversely, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Anthony Rizzo would be a logical "old guard".

Well ... not so much. Thanks to a tag team from Phillips and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, you can mark Stanton down among the hitting progressives, while Volpe has been much more resistant.

Oh! Well, then!

Volpe's quite possibly the Yankees' largest and most public development "failure" of the past half-decade, and has vacillated back and forth between leaning into power and launch angle and shirking it in favor of seeking singles seemingly every year. And yet the results never change! He's an ~85 OPS+ hitter no matter how you slice it. His consistency in pursuit of "Meh" has been remarkable.

Perhaps Playoff Volpe will show up more consistently next season if he's handed the reins to second base in Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s wake. But if you've often found yourself wondering how it all went so lopsided for Volpe, his resistance to new-school methodology and devotion to Judge's way of thinking (and, potentially, his private hitting instructor?) could help explain things. There are a lot of voices trying to pull him one way, and his decision to stand firm has resulted in one too many pivots.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow