The struggles of 24-year-old shortstop Anthony Volpe became a key storyline through the New York Yankees‘ 2025 season. Tied with the Boston Red Sox’ Trevor Story, Volpe led American League shortstops with 19 errors. But while Story put together a solid slash line of .263/.308/.422, Volpe barely squeaked by at .212/.292/.371. Story’s bWAR totaled a respectable 3.8 in 2025, while Volpe was worth just 1.6.
And then Volpe finished off his season with surgery on his left shoulder just days after the Yankees were eliminated from the AL Division Series.
With Volpe’s immediate future uncertain, the Yankees made an under-the-radar free agent signing last week for depth in the infield, bringing in a player who has worn the Major League uniform of two of the Bronx Bombers’ arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets.
Volpe Not Expected to Start Season
The controversy over Volpe’s role continues. Robbie Casey, founder of the popular site Bleeding Yankee Blue, seemed to represent the view of a significant number of Yankee fans when he wrote earlier this week, “The fact that Anthony Volpe is still being treated like the Yankeesâ unquestioned starting shortstop after everything we watched this season is absolutely wild to me. In a rational universe, his job status shouldâve been under review the minute the postseason ended. In a just world, it wouldâve been outright revoked.”
Nonetheless, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in October that he sees Volpe as the team’s starting shortstop in 2026.
“I believe in the player still. I think we believe in the player,” Cashman said, as quoted by ESPN.com. “He’s 24 years old. I don’t think the New York stage is too big for him. It’s just still finding his way.”
At the same time, Cashman said that he does not expect Volpe to come off the injured list until late April or sometime in May.
Cashman Signs Journeyman Shortstop
With Volpe’s injury and the general uncertainty surrounding the 2019 first-round draft pick out of Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey, Cashman last week apparently decided to hedge his bets and acquire a depth player for the shortstop position, a player who also grew up near Yankee Stadium, five-year veteran infielder Zack Short.
The Yankees signed the 30-year-old Short â a native of Kingston, New York, about 90 miles north of Yankee Stadium â to a minor league contract on December 12, according to the team’s official transaction ledger.
Short has played for five Major League teams since making his debut for the Detroit Tigers in 2021, most recently getting into 22 games for the Houston Astros this season, spending most of the campaign with the club’s Triple-A affiliate, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.
Short Bounced Among 3 Teams in 2024
The 2016 17th-round Chicago Cubs draft pick out of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, managed a .671 OPS with two home runs in his brief stint with the Astros. But the previous season, Short split his time between three teams â the Red Sox, Mets and Atlanta Braves.
He started the season with the Mets â the team he grew up rooting for, as he said in a 2022 interview â but on May 1, the Queens club sold his contract for cash to the Red Sox.
He lasted in Boston for just one week before the Red Sox dealt him to Atlanta. He chose free agency after that season, as he did once again following the 2025 season spent entirely with the Astros organization.
In 248 Major League games in his career, Short has made only 20 errors, indicating that the Yankees may intend to find a use for him as a defensive backup for Volpe once the injured shortstop returns.
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