Anthony Volpe is four games into a new assignment at second base, and the early read is hard to miss: he looks settled there. With Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the injured list because of a sprained right thumb, Volpe has slid over and has not made an error yet. The sample is tiny, but the movement, the footwork and the comfort all jump off the screen.
That was on display Sunday, when Volpe turned in a jump throw from second base that had all the flash Yankees fans are used to associating with him - even if this one came from a different spot on the diamond. For a player who has had an uneven season and an uneven big-league career, it was the kind of play that lands with extra weight.
The frustrating part for Yankees fans is that this seems obvious in hindsight. Volpe’s move to second base has worked so far, but it also feels like a fix that should have been tried much earlier.
New York did eventually send him down to the minors to learn the position this season, and that part has paid off. The problem is the timing.
The plan arrived late.
There’s a split-screen feeling to all of it. On one side, the Yankees may have found a way to get more out of Volpe.
On the other, this is the sort of move an organization should have been willing to make long before an injury forced its hand. Chisholm’s thumb issue opened the door, not a sudden organizational awakening.
And if Volpe keeps handling second base the way he has through these first four games, the Yankees could wind up salvaging a player and smoothing over some of the damage done by their handling of his development. But even that comes with an asterisk. The move happened because it had to, not because the Yankees got out ahead of the problem.
Volpe as a second baseman also makes sense when you look back at his skill set. He won a Gold Glove as a rookie shortstop in 2023, but his range, arm and consistency dipped after that. A transition to second base fits that profile cleanly.
The bigger issue has always been how the Yankees treated “New York Yankees starting shortstop” as part of Volpe’s identity instead of simply his position. That rigidity hung over the situation for too long, with Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman sounding increasingly locked into the same idea in interviews. Volpe himself never seemed to resist change; he even said he’d play catcher.
In the end, George Lombard Jr. and Chisholm’s injury broke the stalemate. For outsiders, the Yankees might look smart for making the switch.
For people who have watched this unfold all along, it’s more complicated than that. Volpe at second base is encouraging.
It’s also a reminder of how long it took to get here.
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