Yankees’ Anthony Volpe in Danger of Postseason Benching, per Insider

New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe is a man who can’t escape the noise these days.

In his third season, the always-inconsistent Volpe has been flat-out bad. His .206 batting average is second-worst among qualified Major League Baseball hitters, and his .661 OPS is seventh-worst.

The Yankees traded for a second shortstop, Jose Caballero, from the Tampa Bay Rays at the July 31 deadline. If Volpe’s rough summer extended into September, it was only a matter of time before we would see Caballero take some of his starts away.

On Wednesday, Caballero indeed started over Volpe, marking back-to-back series in which the latter sat out at least one game. And that might only be the start of the trend.

According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, the Yankees sitting Volpe down in this manner may be a signal that he could continue to lose more and more playing time, possibly ceding the majority of the starts in October to Caballero.

“Sitting three games back of the Blue Jays, the Yankees need to have their best players on the field every day, and Volpe is not one of them this season,” Kirschner wrote. “Caballero isn’t a world-beater offensively, but he offers cleaner defense and plus base running.

“With time running out before October, no one should be surprised if Volpe continues to lose his grip on the shortstop position — not just for the rest of the regular season, but for the postseason as well.”

The Yankees have spent most of the season defending Volpe, calling him one of the best defenders in baseball even as his defense has regressed and expressing hope that the bat would come around.

Even if the 24-year-old plays in Thursday’s series finale against the Detroit Tigers, it seems to be a day-to-day decision now for manager Aaron Boone, and if nothing else, it’s clear that Volpe is no longer considered untouchable.

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