Anthony Volpe's film session with a former minor league teammate over chicken parm dinner has done wonders for him in the batter's box.
The New York Yankees are having difficulties generating hits and runs with star outfielder Aaron Judge sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a torn ligament in his right big toe. That was evident on Tuesday when the Yankees lost 2-1 to the Oakland Athletics after recording seven hits the entire game. Three of those hits came from rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe.
To start the year, Volpe had not had the greatest batting numbers, especially compared to how well he performed in spring training. He struck out a lot and had a batting average well below .200. But, all it took was a film session with former minor league baseball teammate Austin Wells over chicken parm dinner, for Volpe to realize what he was doing wrong in the batter's box. That's right, a Yankees prospect pointed out a flaw before the coaching staff did.
As it turns out, that film session has paid off. In 12 games played since, Volpe has gone 11-for-35 (.314) with one home run, four doubles, and six walks while posting a .929 OPS.
Yankees: A film session over chicken parm dinner has done wonders for Anthony Volpe's swing
As Volpe looked at the film with Wells and his other former minor league teammates, they noticed that there was something that stuck out regarding how he was approaching pitches.
"Kind of a little stuff with my stance and how I set up to hit," Volpe said, h/t Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News. "It was so small, but we both kind of noticed it and started talking about it. I think we both took a lot away from it."
Since then, as evidenced by the stat line above, Volpe has been batting above .300 since altering his stance and how he sets himself up for a hit. It worked and does cast a shadow of doubt over manager Aaron Boone and hitting coach Dillon Lawson for not spotting it.
Even during his slump, Volpe had been securing clutch hits and late-game home runs. But the batting average and strikeouts were a concern.
This season, Volpe recorded a .203 batting average, a .282 on-base percentage, a .368 slugging percentage, 10 home runs, 28 RBI, 28 runs scored, 53 hits, 89 strikeouts, 28 walks, and 15 stolen bases in 79 games played.
So far, Volpe's alterations at the plate have paid dividends. With three more months left in the season, we shall see if that leads to a jump in production and an even better stat line at the end of the season.