The New York Yankees may be backing off from their previously steadfast support of erratic shortstop Anthony Volpe, according to a report published Thursday by columnist Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Manager Aaron Boone has never wavered in his public support of Volpe, who is the rare local product who rises to play for The Bronx Bombers, drafted by the team in the first round in 2019 out of Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey.
Behind the scenes, according to Sherman, that support may now be wavering. The Yankees may be open to requiring Volpe to compete for his job in spring training next year.
But if that is true, the Yankees just lost one possible competitor, a six-year big league shortstop who has served two stints with the Yankees organization, including all of 2025 â and one who is even more of a local hero, born and raised in the Bronx and a former star player at Fordham Preparatory School, just up the road from Yankee Stadium.
On Monday, 31-year-old Andrew Velazquez, who played 28 games for the Yankees in 2021 before being re-signed by the organization on New Year’s Eve last year, signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers, according to the transactions section of his MLB.com player page.
Velazquez Grew Up in Shadow of Yankee Stadium
Velazquez has played parts of six major-league seasons with five different teams, including the Yankees. But he first came to the notice of big league scouts at Fordham Prep, where he was named All-Bronx Player of the Year in 2012.
“When he reached base with a single, heâd almost always end up on third base with his blazing speed. He started off the season with three home runs in his first three games. He played a nearly flawless â and sometimes spectacular â shortstop,” wrote Post high school baseball reporter Dan Martin at the time.
He led the Rams to the Catholic High School Athletic Association Class AA Intersectional finals that year, but it was not the Yankees who first spotted Velazquez. Instead, the Arizona Diamondbacks drafted him in the seventh round and paid him a $200,000 bonus to turn pro rather than attend Virginia Tech, where he had committed to play college baseball.
Made MLB Debut in 2018
It was a long journey through the minor leagues for Velazquez. The Diamondbacks included him in a trade package with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014 for pitcher Jeremy Hellickson. Four years later, the Bronx native made his major-league debut with the Rays as a 2018 September call-up.
Velazquez appeared to get off to a promising, if sporadic, start, getting in 12 plate appearances in 13 games, recording three hits, a walk and an .817 OPS. He even stole a base. But the following July, the Rays sent him to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for international bonus pool cash.
Returns to Yankees After Angels Tenure
He bounced around among Cleveland, the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees and Los Angeles Angels â where he got into 125 games in 2022, appearing at the plate 349 times but managing only a .196 batting average and a .540 OPS.
After one more season with the Angels, he signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves but never got a call-up to the big club in 2024. He signed with the Yankees again, was released by them again in August this year, but quickly re-signed before once again electing free agency in November.
Velazquez is currently playing for Cangrejeros de Santurce in the Puerto Rican Winter League, where his struggles at the plate have continued. But the Rangers have now assigned him to the Triple-A Round Rock Express, where he is expected to start the 2026 season in what could be his final chance to sort out his hitting woes and find a long-term place at the major-league level.
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