The New York Yankees have recalled Anthony Volpe from Triple-A with Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the injured list.
Volpe was the Yankees' starting shortstop before the team finally decided to send him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in favor of top prospect George Lombard Jr. In four seasons with the Yankees, Volpe has had some great moments on defense and offense, but was never able to be a consistent force. He won a Gold Glove as a rookie, and then his defense started to decline. He hit 19 home runs last year, but could not find the power stroke this season.
Overall, he has a .224 career batting average, and that simply is not good enough to justify keeping him in the lineup. However, he found success offensively after being demoted and making some changes.
“I wanted to get a lot out of it,” Volpe said, per MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. “You have a game every night to try out different stuff and feel what works. You feel like it’s going to translate in case an opportunity like this comes. So there was just a lot of trial and error.”
Volpe also noted that he viewed the demotion as an opportunity to make some changes, in hopes of being a contributor in the big leagues again. After his demotion, he is slashed .284/.381/.642 with 10 home runs and mostly played second base.
With Chisholm expected to be shut down from baseball activities for 7-10 days, Volpe will have a chance to prove his worth to the Yankees again, this time as a second baseman.