BALTIMORE — They never took away Anthony Volpe’s locker.
Typically, if a player is jettisoned to the minors, their belongings go too. That’s standard protocol. For instance, when the Yankees optioned 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil to Triple-A Scranton earlier this season, his sliver of clubhouse was cleaned out and reassigned to someone else. All the assorted baseball bric-a-brac in Gil’s locker was piled into duffel bags or cardboard boxes and sent with him to scenic Lackawanna County or put into storage.
But Volpe, and his things, were given special treatment.
When the former top prospect and three-year big leaguer was demoted to Triple-A on May 3 after completing a lengthy minor league rehab assignment, the nameplate above was not removed. Surely, his crucial pieces of gear ended up in Scranton as well, but that spiffy wooden cubby, Volpe’s small slice of big league real estate, remained undeniably his.
Who exactly made that call — a home clubhouse attendant, general manager Brian Cashman, captain Aaron Judge — is unclear. Perhaps it was simply inertia; big leaguers rehabbing in the minors typically retain a spot in the room.
What’s certain, however, was the unspoken message his untouched locker sent: This kid will be back. He is thought of, by this group at least, as a big leaguer. His time riding buses between scrappy Northeast towns would be temporary. The Show, in all its gilded glory, would welcome him back soon enough. He would be a part of the 2026 Yankees.
Well, that reintroduction will come much sooner than anybody anticipated.
The 2019 first-round draft pick was recalled to the majors Tuesday afternoon after his replacement, the immeasurably confident José Caballero, was put on the 10-day IL with a broken right middle finger. Caballero, who suffered the injury diving into first base following a pickoff throw during Sunday’s game in Milwaukee, had wrestled away the starting job from Volpe with an April of scrappy, inspired play.
Volpe began the year on the IL himself, recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. He spent the maximum 20 days in the minors on a rehab stint before the club opted to continue with the high-energy Caballero as the starting shortstop. Now he’s back in the bigs, having arrived just before first pitch of New York’s 6-2 win over Baltimore on Tuesday.
Over this season’s first seven weeks, Yankees skipper Aaron Boone has heaped praise on Volpe’s counterpart, using well-worn baseball clichés like “scrappy,” “gamer” and “ballplayer” to describe Caballero. On Tuesday, during his pregame scrum, Boone reaffirmed his faith in the 29-year-old Panamanian as the starting shortstop despite Volpe’s return from Triple-A.
“He’s played as well as anyone out there, so yeah, it would be my expectation,” Boone answered when asked about Caballero’s grip on the job.
It all adds up to a bizarre situation for a Yankees team that has played stellar baseball in the early going. New York, at 27-16, has the second-best record in the American League. Their +76 run differential is second best in all of MLB. Quite a bit has gone right for a club that received some criticism over the winter for opting to run back a strikingly similar roster to 2025.
Volpe’s story has been a fly in the ointment, one of few unsavory storm clouds among an otherwise sunny start. Debuting a few weeks before his 22nd birthday on Opening Day 2023, Volpe was anointed as The Next Great Yankee Shortstop. Those lofty expectations were only amplified even further by Volpe’s upbringing as a diehard Yankees fan in the New York area. This was a kid living his dream, and the dreams of hundreds of thousands of other youngsters with Derek Jeter posters on the walls of their childhood bedrooms.
Except Volpe didn’t play particularly well. He showed flashes as a rookie, with 21 homers, 24 steals and capable defense. He won a Gold Glove in his second season, but failed to progress with the bat. His 2025 campaign was an even bigger step forward, as Volpe, playing through a shoulder issue for most of the year, made a rash of errors at shortstop that appeared to negatively influence his offensive game.
That context, alongside Volpe’s injury sidelining him for the first month, gave Caballero a window to capture the starting job for 2026. That’s exactly what’s happened. Now, Volpe is back, saying all the right things, filling in for the time being until Caballero is back. That probably won’t be long; Boone inferred that a minimum IL stint for Caballero was a real possibility.
A loud run of play from Volpe could change things, reorient the calculus for Boone and his bosses upstairs. He will start at shortstop Wednesday and be the everyday option there for the time being. Those in the clubhouse like and respect Volpe, but they are also enthused and invigorated by Caballero’s unrelenting panache. Caballero, for instance, vociferously argued with Boone to stay on the active roster to no avail. He believes in himself, to a fault. Volpe has not always displayed that same level of moxie.
Volpe spoke to reporters after Tuesday’s game. Predictably, he was staid and unrevealing. He appeared more relieved than elated to be back in The Show. He talked about process and taking things one day at a time. Clichés are a roadmap or a crutch, depending on how you play.
The most forthright moment of the conversation came when Volpe was asked about his teammates reaching out to him after he was sent down.
“That meant the world. Honestly,” Volpe said. “We went to war together for a good amount of time, we’ve been through a lot. So for them to just make sure I’m good, I’m still working, making me feel like I’m still part of it even when I wasn’t, that meant a lot.”
He’s a part of it now, at least for the time being.
Caballero talked to reporters too, showing how he still had mobility in his ailing finger, explaining that he could play if he needed to. Once the mics were shut off he held court for a few minutes. He did not seem particularly concerned about losing his gig.
As Caballero strutted out of the clubhouse, wearing a matching gray-blue tracksuit, he proclaimed his timeline to nobody in particular, but it might as well have been to Volpe.
“Nine more days guys, nine more days.”
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