HEARTBREAKING NEWS: The Yankees manager has decided to sacrifice the legend without…

Even if the Yankees’ return to the top looks inevitable, it’s important to keep in mind that, only a few months ago, the team appeared to be at its lowest point before the offseason optimism of the Juan Soto deal ignited this wave of positive energy. Here are only a handful of the many unexpectedly fortunate events that the Yanks have to experience to reach to this stage.

At 22, Anthony Volpe was given a full season to make all his rookie mistakes and to his credit, he seems to have gotten all of them out of the way. Volpe slashed just .209/.283/.383, good for just an 81 OPS+, with 167 strikeouts in 159 games.

The signs in Spring Training were encouraging and Volpe was saying all the right things about taking a more measured approach at the plate this season, but it’s still been astounding how quickly he’s turned all his struggles around. Through the first 12 games of 2024, Volpe is slashing .372/.460/.581 for an incredible 198 OPS+.

Now obviously, we can’t expect Volpe to continue to be a top-10 hitter in MLB all season long, but he’s passing all the checkpoints any evaluator would have set for him coming into the season. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is drastically improved, he’s gone from the 33rd percentile in whiff rate to the 96th and even his sprint speed and defensive metrics have taken another leap forward.

Basically, Volpe looks like he’s already becoming the start the Yankees’ organization dreamed he could eventually be and it’s happened stunningly quickly. Now the conversation begins to shift to what kind of contract it will take as a staple of the middle infield for years to come.