The New York Yankees finally confirmed what the numbers had been screaming: Anthony Volpe has played through a left-shoulder labrum tear for months. Aaron Boone said Thursday the shortstop has a “small tear,” and the club expects him to keep playing—an injury first identified in May but only now fully revealed. Volpe received cortisone after the All-Star break and again on Wednesday, then sat out a second straight game while the Yankees labeled him “day-to-day.”
The performance collapse matches the timeline. Volpe carried a .233/.326/.442 slash line through May 3—before he felt a “pop” diving for a ball. Since then, he has cratered, posting an 81 wRC+, a .171 average, and a .573 OPS since late June. Boone downplayed the injury’s impact on Thursday, even as the club admitted he has undergone months of treatment and will not receive another MRI until after the season.
This injury did not come from one flare-up. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported the recent cortisone shot tied to an issue dating back four months—precisely when the production fell off a cliff. The sequence matters: early discomfort, no structural damage announced, persistent struggles, and only now an admission of a tear.
Injury Mismanagement
Who kept it quiet? Yankees leadership—Boone, Brian Cashman’s front office, and the medical staff—knew by May, according to team comments and reporting. Yet they continued to run Volpe out almost daily while publicly calling him “day-to-day.” Boone said Thursday to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, he doesn’t think the tear represents a “major factor,” but the club also conceded he will likely need an MRI after the season. That contradiction fueled fan anger and placed accountability squarely on decision-makers, not the player.
New York’s handling explains the boos and the discourse that engulfed Volpe’s summer. Fans and media picked apart his swing mechanics and defense while the organization withheld the key detail: a labrum tear discovered in May. Meanwhile, José Caballero filled in at shortstop with strong defense and timely hitting, further exposing why the Yankees insisted on letting Volpe play through pain during a deep slump.
Fallout in the Bronx
This revelation highlights not excuses but transparency and player care. The Yankees treated a developing shortstop like a franchise anchor who had to post daily, forcing him to absorb months of failure he couldn’t escape with a compromised shoulder. ESPN reported the tear. MLB.com confirmed his absences and connected the timeline back to May’s “pop.” Together, those details create one picture: the team held critical context while the season—and a young infielder—spiraled.
The consequences are clear. Volpe’s reputation absorbed needless damage. The club’s credibility on injury disclosure collapsed further. And the Yankees now enter the stretch run with a shortstop plan based on pain tolerance, not performance. The labrum tear may not explain every strikeout or error, but it explains enough, and the Yankees hid it long enough, to turn a slump into a story of organizational failure.
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