Anthony Volpe’s progress is raising a Yankees cornerstone question

ARLINGTON, Texas — There were a few heady moments the first two months of the season, when it was easy to envision Anthony Volpe at the All-Star Game.

He was akin to a terrific point guard, filling up columns on the way to a baseball-version of the triple-double, regularly providing impact on hitting, baserunning and defense. Through June 5, Juan Soto ranked first in the majors in Wins Above Replacement (Fangraphs), Aaron Judge ranked second and Volpe was eighth.

Volpe was a worthy supporting actor to the two megastars, clearly the third-best player on the team.

But since then, Volpe has the sixth-worst WAR. Almost as bad, at ninth worst, has been Alex Verdugo, who’d also been providing high-quality diverse skills. Fittingly, their parallel plummets included each making a defensive miscue on what would’ve been the 27th out Sunday, when a win would’ve sent the Yankees into the break with a sweep of the Orioles and first place in the AL East. Instead, their mistakes finalized a crushing loss.

Verdugo, who metaphorically and literally finished the first half face down in left field at Camden Yards, is just a space filler. In his walk season, he is almost certainly a pinstripe one-and-done. Volpe, though, is expected to be a cornerstone. And he still is the Yankees’ third-best player. But that now comes with more questions. Notably, just how good is he going to be?

Craig Carton will make WFAN return to call three Yankees games

Are the Yankees OK if their third-best player is, say, the 10th-best shortstop in the majors? Or the 15th?

Remember, in those better moments in spring training and early in the season — which included a 22-game hitting streak in May — there was wonder if he could be on the Bobby Witt Jr. trajectory: a promising but flawed first season into a second season of stardom and even more than that in Year 3.

That hasn’t happened. Volpe at the break had the same exact bedeviling .666 OPS with which he finished last season. In his sophomore season, Volpe has exchanged power for batting average — except since June 6 his .171 mark is the third worst of the 190 players with at least 100 plate appearances in that time — and that came with zero homers. It emphasizes that he tends to go into a slump — and not just for a few days. Volpe is fast, but after beginning his career 15-for-15 in steals, he is 24-of-his-last-33 and just is not running as much on a Yankee team on which he is the lone threat until Jon Berti gets healthy.

Roger Maris Jr. will be ‘tuned in’ to Aaron Judge’s home run chase encore with Yankees

Volpe is durable (leads the majors in innings played in the field), is strong on defense despite Sunday’s miscue and is beloved within the organization for his diligence and team-first nature. And Aaron Boone has always been quick to note Volpe is just 23. So, yes, there is time to get better. But he is 14 months younger than Witt, who is in the conversation with Judge, Soto and Gunnar Henderson for AL MVP.

Witt and Henderson are at the All-Star Game. So are C.J. Abrams and Elly De La Cruz, shortstops who also are in their age-23 seasons. So is Jackson Merrill, who converted from short to center field in his age-21 rookie season, but is likely to be a shortstop again, perhaps as early as next season.

Is Volpe better than anyone in that group — today or tomorrow? How about Zach Neto, Ceddanne Rafaela, Ezequiel Tovar and Masyn Winn, who all are in their age-23 or younger season? How about slightly older shortstops such as Oneil Cruz and Jeremy Pena? How about established stars such as Mookie Betts, Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager and Trea Turner, plus Willy Adames and Ha-Seong Kim?

How about Josh Smith, who the Yankees included in July 2021 as part of the ill-fated Joey Gallo trade and is burgeoning into a Rangers star, in part by filling in at shortstop when Seager is injured? How about others who have moved off short but could probably still play there such as Bryson Stott, Joey Ortiz and Jordan Westburg?

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR STARTING LINEUP NEWSLETTER

Remember this is all by comparison. Volpe is a talented young player. His work ethic is such that I would not doubt there is more ceiling there. But where does he stand among his peers? It might be that the Orioles produced four shortstops better than Volpe in this time frame. Henderson was taken 12 picks after Volpe in the 2019 draft. Westburg, also an All-Star, has moved off short to stand out at second and third. Ortiz is breaking out at third besides Adames in Milwaukee and likely will take over next season with Adames in his walk year. And Jackson Holliday, who struggled in his first cup of coffee earlier this year, still might be better than all of them.

Heck, former Yankee farmhand Jorge Mateo, a shortstop turned Orioles jack-of-all-trades, is having a 2024 not all that different from Volpe.

Plus, Ortiz was good enough to help the Orioles obtain Corbin Burnes, who is the AL All-Star Game starter. Remember when the Yankees would not include Volpe to obtain Luis Castillo? Will they regret that, especially since it led to falling dominoes to fill that void that convinced the Yankees to sign Carlos Rodon for six years at $162 million?

This is an age of terrific shortstops — so many that the overflow are moving off the position. How good can the Yankees be in 2024 and moving forward if Volpe is not near the front of that group?

For the latest in sports, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/sports/