Anthony Volpe eager for first playoff push with Yankees: ‘Big aspirations’

Anthony Volpe was back at his alma mater, Delbarton School in his hometown of Morristown on Monday, where the shortstop hosted several hundred players at his first ProCamp.

It was held at Brian E. Fleury Field, the same field where Volpe helped lead Delbarton to a New Jersey state title just over five years ago.

“I was joking with my dad today; it looks a lot smaller than when I played here,’’ Volpe said.

But he’s hoping to have similar success this season in The Bronx, where the Yankees continue their homestand Tuesday against the Angels and locked in a tough battle with the Orioles for first place in the AL East.

A year ago, the Yankees were 11 games back of the Orioles in the division and 3 ½ games out of the final AL wild-card spot en route to their worst season in decades.

So while Volpe had a solid rookie year, won a Gold Glove at shortstop and hit 21 homers, it wasn’t the season he nor the Yankees envisioned when he won the starting job out of spring training.

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With about eight weeks left in this regular season, Volpe and the Yankees look to be in much better position to get back to the playoffs, where the 23-year-old would be making his postseason debut.

“Overall, we’re excited,’’ Volpe said. “We have really big aspirations.”

Asked about those, Volpe said, “Our goal isn’t to make the playoffs. It’s to win it all. That’s the standard. We think about that every day.”

Volpe will have to keep up his recent play for that to become a reality.

While much has been made about Volpe’s improved production since being bumped out of the leadoff spot , his first 10 games following the move were not good.

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During that initial stretch, he went just 5-for-37 and his only extra-base hits were a pair of doubles.

The real improvement has come following the All-Star break.

In those 15 games, he’s had nine extra-base hits (five homers and four doubles) and has an OPS of 1.026.

“I was just working on some stuff from the offseason,’’ Volpe said of the adjustments he made following his rookie year, when he looked to make more contact. “It was good to take a step back, and a couple of things clicked.”

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Whether he can avoid another significant dropoff at the plate will go a long way in determining just how deep the Yankee lineup will be behind Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

Due in part to his continued strong play at short, Volpe ranks third in WAR among Yankees position players, trailing only Judge and Soto, according to Fangraphs.

That’s also a product of some disappointing performances from DJ LeMahieu, Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres, as well as more injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo.

Spencer Jones, the Double-A Somerset outfielder the Yankees refused to trade at the deadline, was named Eastern League Player of the Week on Monday.

Oswald Peraza, once in the mix for a utility role with the Yankees before a shoulder injury in the spring, has been excellent in recent weeks at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He had just a .597 OPS through June 27, but an OPS of .882 since then.

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