Jazz Chisholm Jr. is on the injured list with a thumb sprain and Anthony Volpe is back up from Triple-A to play second base in his place.
Volpe has been a shortstop for his entire career, but his offensive woes finally forced the Yankees to send him down and replace him with top prospect George Lombard Jr. Lombard, after a hot start, has started to struggle offensively, but he's a rookie, and it's not uncommon. He is still seen as the shortstop of the future, meaning Volpe's best chance to stay in the big leagues is to play a new position.
When Chisholm is healthy, he will undoubtedly reclaim the starting second base job. He was hot at the plate for about a month, showing signs of being the player he was last year. However, what comes after this year is a question mark. Chisholm is set to be a free agent, and Volpe has a chance to show the Yankees he can be a reliable every-day second baseman in the next seven to 10 days.
The Yankees clearly like Volpe; otherwise, they would have just given up on him. If they lose Chisholm in free agency, Volpe would be first in line for the second base job, and his recent success since his demotion could start to spell the end for Chisholm in the Bronx.
Volpe had a .284/.381/.642 slash line with 10 home runs in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after he was sent down. He found his power stroke, made some changes to his swing and started playing second base. All three are good signs for his future with the Yankees. However, that was Triple-A, and he needs to do it in the big leagues.
Well, on Thursday night, he made his first career start at second base in the big leagues. He played a clean game defensively, but what he did at the plate was more important. He had a three-hit game, which included a grand slam. He had a total of five RBIs, batting last in the lineup. Both of his singles were ground balls, and he also grounded out once in his four at-bats.
It was just one game, but if Volpe can play like that for the remainder of his time in the lineup in place of Chisholm, the Yankees could start to feel comfortable with him at second base.