Anthony Volpe has struggled offensively for most of his career and was recently sent to Triple-A and replaced by George Lombard Jr. at shortstop.
Lombard is seen as the shortstop of the future and hit his first career grand slam on Wednesday night. Volpe was recalled to the big leagues and played in Thursday's game, replacing Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base while he recovers from a thumb sprain. Volpe followed up his replacement's grand slam with one of his own.
According to OptaSTATS, Volpe's grand slam made the Yankees the first team in history to have grand slams by a shortstop and second baseman on consecutive days. The stat is based on what position the players were playing at the time of the grand slam.
Volpe had just one home run in the big leagues before his grand slam on Thursday. However, since his demotion, he has made changes to his swing and looked great at the plate in Triple-A Scranton. Volpe had 10 home runs in Triple-A after his demotion and carried a slash line of .284/.381/.642.
The Yankees are trying to catch the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East, and Volpe will need to stay hot with Chisholm out if the Yankees want to do that. Additionally, for his sake, he needs to play well as this could be an audition for his role next year. If Jazz Chisholm Jr. leaves in free agency, the Yankees may give Volpe the second base job if he can prove his offense can be better.
