Thanks to his ripper at the start of the season, all eyes looked at Anthony Volpe with undeniable affection. The first few weeks of 2024 game action led to belief in the idea that Volpe was taking the next step in his development. His focus on smallball and team-oriented offense immediately catapulted him into a fan favorite. Everything went smoothly.

Then Volpe fell from seemingly thin air into the void, freezing for months while showing brief promise. His wRC+ increased year over year from 82 to 86, but his OPS actually dropped from .666 to .657. His concerted effort to spray the ball down the field at lower launch angles undoubtedly allowed him to make more contact (33rd percentile whiff rate in 2023 vs. 62nd in 2024), but it came at the expense of his bat speed, heavy hitting and barrel prices. Oddly enough, he also chased outside the zone more and ran nearly two percentage points below league average. According to Baseball Savant’s Batting Run Value metric, Volpe’s -10 ranks in the 18th percentile among hitters. No matter how you sliced ​​the pizza, the cheese looked old, the crust was way too burnt, the oil dripped for days, and the pepperoni smelled funny. Where was the chicken parmesan when he needed it?

With his lackluster regular season, it made sense that there would be minimal expectations for the postseason. Interestingly enough, though, Volpe was perhaps the Yankees’ third-best hitter heading into the World Series, behind Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto (Gleyber Torres might want to say a word). His .310/.459/.345 slash line over 37 plate appearances (or .804 OPS) ranks fourth if you omit Anthony Rizzo’s even smaller sample size of 16 PAs. That .459 on-base percentage ranks first for the Yankees, and he’s done that while reaching base in every playoff game: Volpe was legitimately good in the playoffs.

Now we have to wonder: does Anthony Volpe get it?

The short answer is: not really, but a little. You’re probably confused by that answer, but Volpe still shows little ability to hit the ball with regularity. What looked better is his swing intention and the competitiveness of his at-bats.

Swing intent isn’t often talked about, but it may be just as important as bat speed. In layman’s terms, swing intention describes the decision to either swing for the fences or to “cut back.” Volpe has shown great progress in this area, as he drastically and consistently lowered his bat speed early in the year to increase contact – often to his detriment. When that clearly wasn’t working, he switched from not swinging hard at all to swinging hard in certain situations, especially when throwing into his nitro zone. Mike Petriello of MLB.com picked this up earlier this year, so I’ll refer you to his piece for additional reading, but it seems like Volpe has a better understanding of when to fight off pitches (swing softer), or swing forward. the fences and pull the ball (swing harder).

His competitive hitting matches his ability to cover pitches outside the zone, something he has regressed on this season. His 29.3 percent chase rate in 2024 was almost a full percentage point below league average, and it eased him through most of the season. Small sample sizes, like the ones we enjoy in the postseason, are hard to claim as sticky, as this could be a period where he’s just seeing the ball well. However, there were some Nice breakers from Guardians pitchers that Volpe spat on: There were some world-class shooting in both series. Still, I don’t have a good idea if his swing decisions are as sticky and clear as his swing intent.

Even with his increased hard-swing speed, his average bat speed falls in the 15th percentile of hitters. He maximizes his power well when he swings hard on purpose, but last year we probably got Volpe’s ceiling result from a power perspective. If the swing intent and chase are real changes he’s made that will last beyond this season — something I’m still skeptical about — there’s a chance he evolves into a slightly above-average hitter who wins more with batting average and ability on base than slugging percentage. But given his elite defensive and baserunning value, this is a great player the Yankees have developed.