Anthony Volpe’s recent struggles have ‘zero to do with’ move to leadoff spot, Aaron Boone says

For Anthony Volpe, hitting higher in the batting order has resulted in a lower batting average.

The second-year shortstop entered Friday’s game against the Tigers hitting .209 over 86 at-bats as the Yankees’ leadoff hitter, compared to .375 over his other 40 at-bats.

Still, manager Aaron Boone believes Volpe’s recent uneven performance is unrelated to him hitting first in the order, where the 23-year-old found himself for Friday’s series opener in the Bronx.

“He’s been alright,” Boone said. “He’s still mixing in his hits. Hasn’t been as hot as he was, probably, the first couple of weeks, but I think it has zero to do with the leadoff position. That’s the ebb and flow of the season, and especially [for] a young player, it’s hard to hit in this league.”

Volpe jumped out to a red-hot start to 2024, primarily hitting sixth or seventh in the order through the Yankees’ first 12 games. He moved to the leadoff spot on April 10, replacing the struggling Gleyber Torres, who was batting .200 at the time.

The New York-born Volpe has remained in the leadoff spot since, recording a .299 on-base percentage and a .291 slugging percentage over his 21 games in the lineup slot entering Friday.

He struck out in 23 of those 86 at-bats as the leadoff hitter — or 26.7% of the time — compared to nine times in his 40 at-bats (22.5%) as the fifth, sixth or seventh hitter. Before Friday’s game, Volpe was 3-for-19 with seven strikeouts in first innings this season.

“I don’t feel he’s far off, and I feel even watching him now, he’s just such a better major-league hitter than he was a year ago,” Boone said.

Volpe hit .209 in his first big-league season in 2023 but slugged 21 home runs and stole 24 bases, making him the first Yankees rookie to record a 20-20 campaign. He hit .191 in 110 at-bats as the leadoff hitter last year.

A former first-round pick out of Delbarton School in Morristown, N.J., Volpe went 2-for-16 during the Yankees’ four-game series in Baltimore this week.

Boone said he doesn’t believe Volpe feels extra pressure operating as a table-setter ahead of superstar sluggers Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, who bat second and third in the order.

The Yankees don’t have a timeline for the return of third baseman D.J. LeMahieu, whom the team expected to be their leadoff hitter before he suffered a foot fracture in spring training.

LeMahieu, who was shut down again in late April with swelling in his foot, resumed baseball activities this week.

“We’ll continue to get people back into the mix and we’ll see [if Volpe remains atop the order],” Boone said Friday, “but I don’t worry about where Anthony hits and how he handles it.”