New York Yankees rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe is having the best stretch of his career — and he may have some chicken parm and a longtime friend to thank.
It was reported back on June 14 that Volpe had identified an adjustment he wanted to make to his batting stance, and it happened while he was having a chicken parmesan dinner with former minor league teammate Austin Wells.
Up to that point, Volpe was having a very rough first season swinging the bat in the big leagues, hitting just .186 with a .260 on-base percentage and .345 slugging percentage.
Despite that, the Yankees remained committed to Volpe as their starting shortstop — a job which comes with high expectations given Derek Jeter’s Hall of Fame run there, not to mention Didi Gregorious becoming a fan-favorite in his own right after Jeter’s retirement.
Since that dinner with Wells, however, Volpe has turned things around. He has a .314/.415/.564 slash line, four doubles, a home run, six walks and a .929 OPS in 12 games (h/t Jomboy Media). Volpe leads the entire Yankees lineup in batting average, OPS and walk rate over that span.
With his June 21 home run against the Seattle Mariners, Volpe also became just one of five rookies in Yankees history, and the first since Alfonso Soriano, to have at least 10 home runs and 15 stolen bases in a season, per FOX Sports Research.
In other words, it appears Volpe has turned around his rookie season and is finally starting to live up to Yankees fans’ lofty expectations by taking to heart the words of another famous athlete — “Chicken Parm, you taste so good.“
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