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USATSI
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe will make his big-league debut on Thursday when New York hosts the San Francisco Giants at 1:05 p.m. ET. When he does so, he will be dressed in a brand new quantity: No. 11, moderately than his spring No. 77. As it seems, Volpe made up our minds to make a telephone name ahead of making the transfer.
According to YES Network’s Jack Curry, Volpe rang longtime Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, the closing member of the workforce to wear No. 11, and made certain he used to be OK with it ahead of accepting the digits as his personal. Gardner, after all, had a top quality occupation with the Yankees, amassing greater than 44 Wins Above Replacement over the process 14 big-league seasons.
Whether or now not Volpe can honest similarly as smartly all through his Yankees occupation is to be noticed. Earlier this spring, CBS Sports ranked him as the sport’s twelfth easiest prospect. Here’s what we wrote:
Volpe loved a breakout 2021 season, homering 27 occasions after including muscle to his body. He did not fit that efficiency closing season — he outright struggled all through a 22-game creation to Triple-A, hanging out 30 p.c of the time — thereby delaying his debut till someday subsequent summer time. Volpe nonetheless tasks as an above-average hitter who can give a contribution in each and every of the slash line classes. Defensively, he will have to proceed to end up that he could make all of the performs at brief in spite of a substandard arm. It’s imaginable that he will ultimately finally end up on the keystone.
For the ones questioning, Volpe will grow to be the 32th participant in Yankees franchise historical past to wear No. 11, becoming a member of a bunch that incorporates Gary Sheffield, Chuck Knoblauch, Fred Stanley, Héctor López, Lefty Gomez, and Waite Hoyt to identify a handful.