Being a player on the New York Yankees comes with a lot of responsibilities. High on that list should be “Don’t potentially concuss Aaron Judge.”
Anthony Volpe fell short of that goal on Saturday.
Following the fifth inning of the Yankees’ game against the New York Mets on Saturday, Volpe tossed back the baseball in Judge’s direction as part of a between-innings ritual. Unfortunately, Judge’s attention was elsewhere and he didn’t see the ball flying straight toward his head.
Judge received attention from trainers after the impact, ultimately remaining in the game with a band-aid quite close to his right eye. Had the ball landed an inch or two to the right, this likely would have been a very different story.
Volpe at least got a measure of redemption in his next-at bat, crushing his 10th homer of the season to cut the Yankees’ deficit to two runs.
However, the Mets responded with five more runs in a 12-6 win to take the series. The Yankees have now lost six straight games and are three games back from the Toronto Blue Jays, who supplied four of those losses earlier this week.
It’s been an up-and-down season for Volpe, who is currently slashing .222/.300/.403 and entered Saturday ranked seventh out of eight AL shortstops in wRC+, which measures offensive contributions while adjusting for park.
Judge, meanwhile, is slashing .361/.471/.731 with 32 home runs and remains the strong favorite to take home a third MVP award.
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