SSTN Mailbag: Volpe, Wells, And Bullpen Acquisition Targets!

The Yankees absolutely crushed the Royals this week to get back on their feet. Frankly, the team also looked better after the unexpected off-day last Saturday (of course they had an off-day...I had tickets to that game). Sometimes, you just need a breather. Obviously, wins against teams like the Royals won't help the Yankees shake the narrative that they only beat bad teams, but it's a start.

Overall, things are pretty good around the team. Grisham and Chisholm are turning things around (and have been for a few weeks, even if no one has noticed); the Yankees are finding offensive depth in multiple places for the first time this season; Ben Rice seems to be getting over his slump that occurred after getting hit in the hand; and Gerrit Cole looks like the best version of himself that I've seen since he whopped the Yankees as an Astro.

Do the Yankees have problems? Yes. Does every team have problems? Also, yes. Are the Yankees' problems fixable? Largely, that answer to varying degrees is yes. I feel good about this team for the remainder of the season.

As always, thanks for the great questions and keep them coming to SSTNReadermail@gmail.com. In this week's SSTN Mailbag, we'll talk about Anthony Volpe's start, Wells' struggles, and a bullpen acquisition target! Let's get at it:

Brian S. asks: You've written a lot about Anthony Volpe's mechanics and their impact on his performance. You didn't seem overly excited about what he looked like in the minors, but he's playing pretty well in the bigs. Has anything changed? What do you think he'll look like with more playing time?

Anthony Volpe has been pretty solid since returning to the Major Leagues. He's come up with timely hits, runs the bases reasonably well (save for one bad play getting hung up between 1st and 2nd on his game-winning single), played excellent defense at SS, and gives the Yankees the flexibility to move Jose Caballero around. It's been a good first 2 weeks in the big leagues for Anthony Volpe. Of course, we've seen plenty of instances of Volpe having having two good weeks before, so is it here to stay? That's a really good question to be asking.

Yes, I have probably watched more video and extracted more stills of Anthony Volpe's swing than anyone who isn't affiliated with the New York Yankees over the last 3 years. I can tell you when I like his positions and when those positions are detrimental to success. Coming into last season, Volpe's swing was very close to what I thought it should look like in an ideal world, and he hit quite well until landing on his shoulder in early May. I can't separate that injury from his performance over the rest of the 2025 season.

Ready for the joke? I don't think his swing looks quite as dialed in mechanically right now as it did last March/April. That said, I think it's good enough mechanically to be a productive player offensively. So no, I don't see a radically different Volpe from a mechanical perspective.

Where I do see a very real difference is with Volpe's approach at the plate. Volpe is showing more patience than he ever has as a big league hitter, which is something he desperately needed in order to be a productive hitter. He's seeing fewer strikes than ever (the numbers are skewed somewhat by the series against the Mets, who throw fewer strikes than any pitching staff in baseball), but he's not jumping at breaking balls and offspeed stuff off the plate. He's not just sitting on fastballs; he's looking for areas of the strike zone where he can be successful, and being aggressive when he gets pitches in those zones. Is his swing perfect? No? Is it even at its most optimal to always do damage when he gets those pitches? Also, no. However, it's more than good enough to get hits and get on-base when he gets those pitches much of the time.

Do you want numbers to support it? As of Tuesday, Anthony Volpe was seeing 4.35 pitches per plate appearance, which way up from previous seasons. He was pretty middling before; 4.35 pitches is in Aaron Judge territory. He's cut his chase rate down to 22.1%, 6+ points beneath the big league average. His strikeout rate has dropped to 22.7%, while his walk rate is nearly equaling that number. Will those numbers regress? Probably a bit, but those are numbers that stabilize pretty quickly.

Add up all of those peripheral numbers, and it indicates that Volpe can be an average-ish hitter at SS, which frees up Caballero to cover for McMahon at 3B, Jazz at 2B against LHP, and even give an outfielder a breather when needed. A productive Anthony Volpe makes this team's construction work so much better.

Do I think Volpe will suddenly be a 120 wRC+ guy? No. Do I think he can live in the 95-105 range with excellent defense? Yes.

MIchael G. asks: Obviously wells poor performance at the plate is concerning. However is he even healthy? Last year he had the arterial damage that affected his hands. I never read anything that said that problem was solved. And in either case who's even available at this point in the season?

Honestly, I have no idea if Wells is healthy, but I'm not seeing the type of compensations I saw last season that indicate to me that he's really hurt. We are reaching the point where something needs to be done if Wells can't even get himself back to his previous level of offensive performance. It's sad to say, but Wells looks horribly broken at the plate for all kinds of reasons. Injury, mechanical changes, and just the focus it takes to catch at the big league level have all likely contributed to Wells' offensive struggles in the Majors, and we're looking at what rock-bottom looks like.

In reality, there aren't a ton of options, particularly after Ryan Jeffers broke his hamate bone. I think JC Escarra deserves a much closer look, as I've always thought he could hit with regular playing time, and he's good defensively. Outside the organization, most of the names are reclamation projects, but there is one that intrigues me: Henry Davis. Davis was a top draft pick who was a sure bet to hit, but just average defensively. The opposite is true; Davis has gobs of tools defensively, but hasn't performed offensively after decimating minor league pitching.

Watching Davis, the offensive tools that made him a tantalizing prospect remain; he pulls a ton of very hard foul balls down the left field line, so i wonder if there's a small mechanical adjustment that will straighten those out and make him connect offensively. He might just be a change-of-scenery candidate.

That's not an avenue a team with World Series aspirations is likely to explore, but if Wells continues his descent, something like that might wind up on the table.

Alan B. asks: Andy, a simple yes or no answer: If the Mets continue to scuffle up until the ASB, would you as NYY GM call or text them to see if Luke Weaver is available?

Yes. He's not my top choice by any stretch, but absolutely. Front offices should always be willing to talk about availability, particularly when it's a player with whom the club is familiar. Weaver is good, but overpaid. That said, I'm not sure he fills the Yankees' need for 1-2 fireballers at the back of the bullpen. Lagrange and an outside addition should solve that problem.