Anthony Volpe’s high school team cancels game to attend his Yankees debut
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Delbarton baseball is not taking the diamond on Thursday, but it will be one of the biggest days in program history nonetheless.
That’s because Anthony Volpe, who featured for the Green Wave as recently as 2019, is making his debut as the starting shortstop of the New York Yankees on this Opening Day. His high school team will be there to see it, too: Delbarton postponed the preseason scrimmage against Morris Knolls it had scheduled for Thursday in order to be at Yankee Stadium to watch Volpe’s debut in person, according to The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty.
The Yankees open their season against the San Francisco Giants.
Volpe, 21, was the biggest spring training storyline even though Aaron Judge was back with a new $360 million contract and as team captain.
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Heading into camp, the Yankees’ shortstop position was open, but rookie Oswald Peraza was the favorite to beat out Kiner-Falefa, who was the starter last season until being benched for a few playoffs games.’
Last year and this year, Volpe has been the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect and a top five prospect in baseball, but he has just 22 games of Triple-A experience. He was supposedly ticketed for more time at Scranton until outplaying the competition from his first spring game, a 2-for-4 showing against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla., in he had a line double in his second base, then a line single on his second which was followed by two stolen bases on consecutive pitches.
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Volpe wound up hitting .302 with 10 extra-base hits and five steals in five attempts in 18 games. Also, he didn’t make any errors in the field.
Now, he will make his debut with the Yankees, the club he idolized growing up in New Jersey. What was his manager’s message before the big day?
“Have fun,” Aaron Boone told Volpe. “That was my message to him this morning. Just play your game and have fun. He’s ready. He’s prepared. I think there’s great comfort in being prepared and knowing you’re ready for a moment. Whatever happens, you’re going to have good days, you’re going to have road bumps here and there.
“But he’s got the talent and the head on his shoulders to deal with all of it. I’m confident of that. So the biggest thing now is go play.”
(NJ Advance Media’s Randy Miller contributed to this report).
MORE MLB:
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– Yankees Opening Day weather: What’s the forecast for Thursday’s game vs. San Francisco Giants?
– Yankees’ Jose Trevino once lied and was suspended. His response: ‘Sorry, I wanted to play baseball’
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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