Tuesday, October 20

Welcome to this edition of the Yankees Beat newsletter. Bryan Hoch has covered the Yankees for MLB.com since 2007.

NEW YORK – There are clear examples of Aaron Judge’s expanded influence throughout the Yankees organization since assuming the captaincy, from input on uniform changes to the decibel level of game-day music.

His fingerprints have occasionally appeared in roster construction as well, which is what made Judge’s comments about Anthony Volpe so intriguing after the American League Division Series.

“If we were going to win a World Series, we needed Anthony Volpe on the team,” Judge said. “He’s an incredible player; not only the talent he has, but to handle that type of adversity – not only from the game, not playing your best, and then hearing it from fans, hearing it from everybody.”

Volpe started over Jazz Chisholm Jr. twice in the Yankees’ five postseason games, and with Chisholm headed for free agency, those lineups could preview how the club intends to handle second base next year.

It’s a development that would have seemed difficult to imagine in early August, when the 25-year-old Volpe was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. It marked Volpe’s second Minor League demotion of the season, making Yankee Stadium feel much farther away than a 125-mile highway trek.

As Volpe admitted on Sept. 10, when he returned with a grand slam and five RBIs in a Yankees win over the Rockies, “I never thought I was going to be back here.”

Having opened the season on the injured list while recovering from left shoulder surgery, Volpe first lost playing time to José Caballero at shortstop, then again when the Yankees promoted 21-year-old top prospect George Lombard Jr. at the Trade Deadline in early August.

Volpe used his time in the Minors wisely, building confidence by hammering Triple-A pitching. As Jasson Domínguez remarked late in the season, Volpe “became Barry Bonds all of a sudden” with the RailRiders, belting five homers in a five-game span beginning on Aug. 30.

He credited the Triple-A coaches for their input, specifically bench coach Gil Velazquez and hitting coach Michael Mergenthaler.

That production put him in position for a call-up when Chisholm landed on the injured list with a right thumb sprain in early September, but the most consequential work of those weeks may have come in the field.

For years, the Yankees have resisted calls to increase Volpe’s defensive versatility, pointing to his 2023 Gold Glove Award at shortstop and internal metrics that manager Aaron Boone – on several occasions – used to describe Volpe as “elite.”

Lombard’s promotion shifted that landscape. Volpe made 19 starts at second base in Triple-A and looked capable there in a small sample size after rejoining the Yankees.

“It felt good,” Volpe said. “It felt fun to make turns and practice turning double plays, and just making those plays up the middle.”

Including the postseason, Volpe batted .286 (16-for-56) from Sept. 10 on, with four doubles, a homer, 10 RBIs and five stolen bases.

“I liked his at-bats,” Boone said. “I thought he had competitive at-bats, day in and day out, regardless of results. I feel like he’s looked good and he’s played well. He’s obviously been through a lot this year and handled everything really well.”

When discussing Volpe’s outlook, Boone has often pointed to Volpe’s 2024 World Series grand slam as a glimpse of his potential.

Volpe nearly enjoyed another memorable postseason moment in Game 3 of the ALDS, when what initially looked like a game-tying homer turned into a run-scoring double, the result of fan interference above the left-field wall.

This offseason could give Volpe a chance to build on any momentum he created late in the year.

“I haven’t even really gotten to think of what’s happened to me this year or anything like that, or how to get better from it,” Volpe said. “I just tried to stay in the moment and do what I could do every single day to make myself the best player I could be, the best teammate, the best Yankee, everything.

“Regardless of anything that happened, that was my mindset. I had a lot of really good people around me. You realize when stuff is happening who you can really trust and rely on. That’s one of the biggest positives with what happened.”

Over the next several months, the Yankees will weigh Volpe against their options in the free-agent and trade markets. A contact hitter like Luis Arraez could provide a different offensive profile, while Caballero could factor in, though the club seems to prefer him in a super-utility role.

One thing was clear as Judge spoke in the clubhouse after Game 3: The captain wouldn’t mind taking a few more chances with Volpe in the lineup.

“For him to go down to Triple-A, work on what he needed to, and then come up here with a bang like he did – it just speaks volumes to his character,” Judge said. “The type of grit he has, the resilience. That’s a guy I want up in a big spot. I know he’s prepared, and I know he’s ready.”

On Oct. 19, 2024, Juan Soto hit a dramatic 10th-inning homer that propelled the Yankees to their 41st American League pennant, helping secure a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series at Progressive Field.

Who was the pitcher?  

A. Tanner Bibee

B. Hunter Gaddis

C. Tim Herrin

D. Cade Smith

Oct. 22, 2000: Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza engaged in the memorable second act of their head-to-head drama, with Game 2 of the World Series as the stage. When Piazza’s bat shattered on a foul ball, Clemens fielded the splintered barrel and tossed it … somewhere. Clemens said it was going toward the first-base dugout; the Mets believed it was thrown at Piazza. The moment continues to spark debate more than a quarter century later.

“He would have known if I’d thrown it at him,” Clemens said in 2025. “Mike’s a dangerous hitter. I think he hit every freaking breaking ball and split I threw to him. So when [pitching coach] Mel Stottlemyre had our pitching meeting, he said, ‘We’re going to pitch Piazza in, and we’re going to pitch him in, and we’re going to pitch him in.’ I had no problem with that. I didn’t want that dude getting extended.”

B. Gaddis

Soto’s homer ended a terrific seven-pitch battle that saw Soto foul off three two-strike pitches from the Cleveland reliever.

“I mean, I was all over him. I was all over him," Soto said that night. "That was the only thing I was thinking. I was just saying to myself, 'You're all over that guy. You're all over that guy. He ain't got anything.' And just try to make good contact, and I did.”

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