Anthony Volpe is slipping into a cold spell.
“It’s been a rough week for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Teams are attacking him in the strike zone.”
Since June 26, Volpe has appeared in 23 games, hitting a .191 with a .461 OPS, no homers, 29 strikeouts and three walks.
Tuesday night against the Reds, the story was no different, as he went 0-for-5.
“He probably is missing some pitches early in counts, where he is getting a good pitch to hit,” Boone said. “He’s fouled a lot of pitches off, probably expanding a little more than he has at times this year.”
In the bottom of the ninth, Volpe was at bat with two outs as the Yankees trailed by a run.
He was their hope to stay in the fight.
Strikes one and two came quickly before he connected.
But all that contact mustered was a pop fly, easily caught by Elly De La Cruz.
With Volpe’s final out, the Yankees, who finished June in a rut, dropped their first game of the new month, 5-4.
The 23-year-old is swinging at pitches he is supposed to take while missing pitches he should punish.
Previously, Volpe spent the offseason adjusting his swing, addressing a weakness in covering the top of the strike zone.
And his efforts paid dividends as he started the season red-hot.
Volpe had a 43 at-bat stretch in which he hit .372 after flattening his bat path.
He emphasized solid contact rather than lifting the ball.
Volpe even garnered the attention of ESPN’s Paul Hembekides, who predicted the second-year shortstop would have a better season than Derek Jeter did at 23.
But all that offseason work and glimmer at the start of the season is but a memory.
“It’s been a week where he’s going through it,” Boone said.
The Yankees finished the month of June in a 4-10 tailspin, and Volpe’s slump was part of it.
Though Boone said he is “confident he will turn it around,” the reality is that the clock is ticking for Volpe as the leadoff hitter.
