Anthony Volpe crushes grand slam in lopsided win

Volpe came up in the top of the ninth with two on, two out, and the Yankees trailing by two. He delivered a two-run double off Minnesota closer Yoendrys Gómez, continuing his hot hitting since being recalled from Triple-A. Volpe has now started six of the team’s past seven games at second base with Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the IL.

Volpe could conceivably get a trial at second base while Jazz Chisholm Jr. is out — he was playing the position at Triple-A — but it’s more likely his playing time remains up-and-down, as it was when he was up before George Lombard Jr. was handed the keys at shortstop.

Boone elaborated that Chisholm, who is available to pinch-run off the bench during Wednesday’s contest against the Rockies, will be shut down from baseball activities for at least 7-10 days. The 28-year-old power/speed combo threat, who has racked up 19 homers and 40 steals in 134 games this season, suffered the injury on a slide into second base during the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game. There’s a chance that he’s done for the rest of the regular season with just over two weeks remaining on the calendar. Needless to say, it’s a significant loss for the Yankees as they try to overtake the Rays for the AL East division crown down the home stretch. He’ll be officially placed on the injured list before Thursday’s series finale with Anthony Volpe coming up to take his roster spot.

It makes sense. If George Lombard Jr. is coming up to be the Yankees’ shortstop of the future, then the team needs to figure out if they can play Volpe in another place. If Volpe were to look good at second, then the Yankees could shift Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to third base.

Lombard will make his major-league debut against the Cardinals on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The 21-year-old remains a work in progress from an offensive standpoint at this stage of his development, but he’s shown some real over-the-fence pop at the Triple-A level this season. He’s a phenomenal defender and projects as New York’s long-term answer at shortstop, which means they can finally end the bizarre José Caballero and Anthony Volpe timeshare once and for all. He may not provide an instant fantasy impact outside of deeper leagues, but Lombard in a prospect worth monitoring closely, even in shallow mixers.

It’s possible we’ve seen Volpe for the final time this season with top prospect George Lombard Jr. set to take over as New York’s shortstop until further notice. The 25-year-old drew constant criticism for defensive miscues and never quite lived up to the stratospheric hype he generated in the minors. He’s still only 25 years old, which means there’s probably another organization out there willing to roll the dice on him down the road.

Aided by a run of lefty opponents, Volpe now started three out of four games after sitting out nine of the previous 13. He’s not exactly tearing it up with his .681 OPS this season, but he has overtaken José Caballero there. Caballero is down to .664 while hitting .211 with a 19/1 K/BB this month.

They condition this with the idea that he’ll need to show his injured fingers are fine and he’ll need to keep producing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when he returns. But in their eyes, the Yankees have no confidence in Anthony Volpe or José Caballero at this point. They also quote Yankees GM Brian Cashman as saying that Lombard “might be a choice at some point.”

Volpe had sat the last two games with Jose Caballero playing shortstop, but Caballero will move to second base on Wednesday and Jazz Chisholm Jr. will get a day off. Earlier this season, Volpe became the first player in MLB history with over 1,800 plate appearances and an on-base percentage under .285. His defense at shortstop has improved this year, but he’s not giving the Yankees much else.

This will make back-to-back games that Volpe will sit with Jose Caballero playing shortstop. The 25-year-old has gotten on base at a respectable .340 clip, but he’s hit just one homer in 2026 and his .668 OPS on the year leaves much to be desired — and is unfortunately right in line with his career .662 number. Volpe has flashed the potential to be an excellent fantasy contributor, but it’s just too hard to trust him to be in lineups at this stage of his career.