Anthony Volpe Won’t Start vs. Red Sox; Yankees Maintain Long-Term Confidence

Anthony Volpe will not start any games this weekend against the Boston Red Sox after receiving a cortisone injection in his left shoulder Wednesday, the New York Yankees announced, but general manager Brian Cashman said the club still views the 24-year-old as the team’s shortstop of the future.

Volpe, who felt a pop diving for a ball on May 3 and was later found to have a partial labrum tear, played through the injury before re-aggravating it on another diving play Sunday. The cortisone injection is expected to require three to four days of recovery, and manager Aaron Boone described the shortstop situation as "fluid" once Volpe is fully available.

"Yeah, I think he’s a good player," Cashman said at Fenway Park before the Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Red Sox on Friday. "This year notwithstanding, he’s got a lot of abilities that are positive. He’s had a tough stretch, but I think he’s someone we can count on and we believe in. ... This isn’t the season we expected or he expected. But that doesn’t change our viewpoint of what he’s capable of. I think he’s a really talented guy and I think he has a chance to be a positive impact on us."

The immediate vacancy at shortstop has given José Caballero an extended opportunity to establish himself in the role. Caballero started his third straight game on Friday and was scheduled to make it five straight by the end of the weekend; he went 1-for-4 in Friday’s win. Boone noted Caballero’s versatility and the value he provides even when not in the lineup, saying he will make day-to-day lineup decisions with the club’s best interest in mind.

Over 460 career major league games, Volpe is batting .221 with a .661 OPS. This season he entered the weekend hitting .206 with a .661 OPS, and defensive metrics that have declined compared with earlier years. Cashman and the Yankees will have to determine how much the partial labrum tear affected Volpe’s performance, team officials said.

"Clearly it’s something he’s been bothered by," Cashman said. "Earlier in the year, it came up. They did the imaging, hit him up with a shot and he had immediate benefit. So we thought it was behind him. But he’s a hard-nosed player. He’s diving all over the place at all times. It’s like a wide receiver going for a pass and falling on his shoulder and next thing you know, more recently it just got re-aggravated again and maybe got a little worse. ... In between those times, he’s had no complaints whatsoever. At the same time, you look at the numbers. So I’d say it’s not black and white. It’s gray. I don’t know if anybody has a real answer to it."

Cashman said offseason surgery on the shoulder could not yet be ruled out and that the club plans additional imaging after the season. Boone said he hopes Volpe "gets through this and he’s back in the mix," noting the shortstop's strong performance late in the previous postseason.

Volpe did not play in the Yankees’ 4-1 victory over the Red Sox on Sept. 12, 2025. With New York still chasing Toronto for the American League East crown, the club’s tone and lineup construction have shifted as it searches for immediate production down the stretch, increasing the urgency of day-to-day decisions about playing time.

The Yankees had defended Volpe’s play earlier in the season, but Boone and Cashman acknowledged the reality of the current calendar and Caballero’s hot stretch. Boone emphasized that the roster decisions at this point will be driven by what he believes is best for the team on any given day.

"We saw him really turn it on last postseason, some of his best baseball, and hopefully that’s still ahead of him," Boone said of Volpe. "We’re at that time of the year where I’m going to do what I think is best for us each and every day."

The Yankees will continue to evaluate Volpe’s shoulder and performance through the end of the season and into the offseason, balancing short-term roster needs with the club’s longer-term view that Volpe remains a player they can build around at shortstop.