Anthony Volpe’s Debut Highlights New York Yankees’ Season Opener

Anthony Volpe had yet to accumulate any major league statistics when he heard some of the loudest cheers in the annual rite of spring – the baseline introductions of Yankees ahead of a home opener.

Those cheers were 19 minutes before his first actual game. And then during the two hours, 33 minutes it took for the Yankees to start a new era of baseball in terms of rules, Volpe experienced the stuff dreams are made of and could hardly wipe the smile off his face throughout the day.

“I probably had goosebumps the whole day,” Volpe said. “But just
just
to be out there, feel welcomed by the fans the way I did and then be able to go out and just play. That was probably the most fun.”

Four days after the touching video of manager Aaron Boone telling Volpe he made the team, the New Jersey kid experienced similar adulation as others with much bigger track records. His day did not end with any firsts other than a stolen base, a walk, and a strikeout but it was still even better than the shortstop anticipated.

“Probably 10 times better,” Volpe said while speaking from the podium ahead of stars Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge. “It was the fun I’ve ever had. Period. On a baseball field. Anywhere.”

And then there was the defense at shortstop, a place where it became an issue late last season. One play saw him make a nice read to charge for a slow chopper in the fourth, starting a 6-4-3 double play two innings later and making a strong throw to first base to get the first out of the ninth.

“He looked like he’d been here a while,” Cole said.

Volpe’s first Opening Day as Yankee shortstop was not as memorable as Derek Jeter’s initial season opener in Cleveland in 1996. There was not a homer nor was there an over-the-shoulder class but there was plenty of memories for the Yankees’ top prospect, who joined a select group with his youth as the fourth player in team history to make a big league debut on Opening Day at 21 years or younger.

Overall, it was a stellar
stellar
opening day for the Yankees after much consternation about not making many significant upgrades to a 99-win team that was swept out of the ALCS by the Astros and a team that dealt with numerous injuries while Volpe was tearing up spring training.

Volpe’s debut came a year after the Yankees opted not to get involved in the external shortstop market. That was the same market when Carlos Correa went from Houston to Minnesota, Corey Seager went from Los Angeles to Texas, Javier Baez went from the Queens side of New York baseball to Detroit.

His debut also occurred after the Yankees opted to hold an open competition after sitting out this year’s shortstop market when Xander Bogaerts went from Boston to San Diego, Dansby Swanson went from Atlanta to the Cubs and Trea Turner went from Los Angeles to Philadelphia.

Volpe’s series of firsts occurred after the Yankees took the lead with Judge’s first homer after his 62-homer season. Judge’s homer in his first at-bat also occurred in his first official day as the 16th captain in team history and it was hard not to notice that he mentioned Volpe in his first answer when responding to a question that was not necessarily about the shortstop.

“Impressive,” Judge said. “The first at-bat he walks. Some great plays on defense. He’s ready to go. I’m excited to see what the future holds for him.”

If all goes according to plan, the reactions for Volpe will get louder and will be for more bigger moments in the postseason

In the meantime, his first day on the job saw some of the reaction in the stands that Judge saw last fall of fans standing up with phones raised to potentially record a big hit. It did not happen that way but hardly took away from his debut less than four years after being a first-round pick.

“It felt like he was chasing 62 in his first at-bat.” Judge said.

Eventually there will be other firsts like the first hit, first homer but for an opening act, Volpe’s debut ranked among the highlights of the season opener.