NEW YORK — The larger the spotlight on his specific efforts, the softer Anthony Volpe’s voice gets.
When the Yankees shortstop is asked about his efficiency in a offered videogame, he tends to brush off the magnitude of his heroics before rerouting the spotlight onto his colleagues. That’s how it went late Tuesday night, minutes after he hit a grand slam for his veryfirst profession playoff home run and was brought into the Yankees press conference space to goover it.
Even though this wasn’t simply a normal grand slam — it provided the Yankees a much-needed early lead over the Dodgers in an removal Game 4 of the World Series — Volpe sat at the podium with the verysame shy attitude and soft-spoken voice that he’s displayed giventhat his major-league launching last year. Only when he was asked to trace his Yankees fandom did the 23-year-old sit up a little straighter and appearance more positive, more fearless, in front of the videocameras and intense lights.
“My grandpa, the Yankees are more than simply a group or an company for him,” Volpe stated. “Because his dad battled in World War II when he was little, and by the time he got back, his mommy generally informed him, ‘This is your father.’ He didn’t understand him, didn’t acknowledge him, didn’t understand anything. The method he states it, the method he got to understand and get to understand his daddy was, he sat on his lap every single night, and they listened to the Yankees together. So, for him, it’s more than sports.”
It’s a story he’s informed before, however neverever on the grandest nationwide phase, when there are more eyeballs and attention on the second-year shortstop than he’s ever experienced. Volpe’s shy nature indicates we may neverever understand, at least not for a while, how much this grand slam that triggered an 11-4 blowout really indicated to him. But seeing him goover his colleagues’ accomplishments more than his own, and hearing him retell the story of how much the Yankees company implies to his household, it’s simple to see that Volpe’s driving force as an professionalathlete is focused on working tough for the individuals around him.
If they’re winning, then he is too.
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“I love him, he’s like a little sibling to me,” Anthony Rizzo stated of Volpe. “He works so hard. He cares so much about his colleagues. He neverever actually gets down. So, for him to have that minute in the World Series, hometown kid, it’s quite unique.”
The Yankees required a Game 5 versus the Dodgers not by the hands of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton. On a cold Tuesday night in the Bronx, it was the Baby Bombers who came through in the most crucial videogame of their professions to date.
After Volpe, Yankees novice catcher Austin Wells is the third-youngest gamer on the Yankees’ World Series lineup. He was 0-for-8 at the plate in the Fall Classic when Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone benched him for Game 3. Rizzo stated it was difficult for Wells to watch from the dugout, particularly as the Yankees fell behind 3-0 in the Series, however it just made how he reacted Tuesday that much more impactful.
Wells ripped a 406-foot double off the cushioning in center field in his veryfirst at-bat of the night, then crushed a solo shot to right field to lead off the 6th. Not just did the novice’s 2nd home run of the postseason double a Yankees lead that hadactually been cut to one, it advised the 49,354 fans in presence that, no matter how this World Series ends, the Yankees’ future will be intense behind Volpe and Wells.
“It’s not truly a relationship anylonger. It’s a brotherhood,” Volpe stated of his relationship with Wells. “We’ve been through it all together. The greatest of highs, and at some point, the mostaffordable of lows. He’s my veryfirst call, my last call. I understand he has my back through thick and thin. To have a minute like that, for him to have a minute like that is unique. But to do it together, you can’t trade it for anything.”
The Yankees catcher echoed Volpe’s belief, and included that it was clear to him as quickly as he got to understand the shortstop in the Yankees’ minor-league system that they had the exactsame objectives of being able to contribute to a historical franchise. Neither of them desired to be superstars, per se. They simply desired to assistance the Yankees win another title, even if all they supplied were modest contributions. Alas, Volpe’s clutch at-bat was anything .
Wells stated Volpe’s grand slam in the 3rd inning — which followed another Freddie Freeman two-run home run in the veryfirst — permitted the Yankees to take a deep breath, unwind and delightin playing baseball. He stated his colleagues were simply waiting for that “one huge swing” to break out of the funk that had marked 3 successive World Series losses.
“I think the scenario we were in, we simply kind of required to state screw it and go after it and have enjoyable duetothefactthat some guys might neverever come back to the World Series onceagain,” Wells stated. “So, simply takingpleasurein the videogame, and I believe that enabled us to play a lot looser tonight.”
It’s well understood now that Volpe grew up in New Jersey rooting for the Bronx Bombers and admiring Derek Jeter. Now that he’s successfully in Jeter’s shoes, the pressure to standout at the greatest level, in front of the biggest media market in the world, all while getting inspected for every misplay, huge or little, can be a lot. Perhaps some of the stress got to Volpe in the 2nd inning, when he misread Wells’ long double and looked to tag up from 2nd before having to hold at 3rd.
Volpe ended up touching home plate on Alex Verdugo’s RBI groundout, and he more than made up for his gaffe with his grand slam. But he still took responsibility after the videogame: “That’s totally on me.” Initially annoyed with himself, Volpe unwinded after his colleagues advised him through their own outstanding at-bats in Game 4 that they’d choice him up.
Sometimes, his peaceful attitude makes him come off as one of the most severe guys on the Yankees lineup. But left-hander Nestor Cortes set the record directly.
“He’s got a little fire in him. A little passion,” Cortes stated. “He’s a little sassy. He’s endingupbeing a little slicker, which is excellent. It’s excellent for him. He came up as a extremely promoted possibility. A lot of individuals anticipated him to be the next Jeter. That’s extremely hard to do. I believe he’s gonna endedupbeing a actually great gamer — he currently is. But I believe he’s going to welcome who he is and compose his own narrative and chapter here. He doesn’t have to follow who Jeter was.”
Volpe was exceptional in this postseason even inthepast he endedupbeing the fourth-youngest gamer to hit a grand slam in the World Series. He gotin the Fall Classic batting .310 with 8 strolls, 6 runs scored and an .804 OPS in 9 playoff videogames. Now, the shortstop is the Yankees’ World Series RBI leader with 5. More notably, he’s the greatest factor there will be a Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday.
Maybe as he logs more minutes like his grand slam, he’ll stand up a little taller, speak a little louder, and come out of his shell.
But what Volpe’s revealed us so far in his young profession is that he doesn’t requirement the huge spotlight or the outrageous contrasts to a Yankees Hall of Famer to come up clutch for his group.
He simply requires to be himself.
“The more he does it, the more he requires to go out there and talk,” Cortes stated. “The more he endsupbeing the gamer of the videogame, I believe you’ll see his character a little more.”
Deesha Thosar is an MLB pressreporter for FOX Sports. She formerly covered the Mets as a beat pressreporter for the New York Daily News. The child of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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