Tag: MLB

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The duality of the Yankees

The similarities between the Yankees’ owned-and-operated Tampa Tarpons and the Major League Club have been very apparent in August, after the Tarpons won the 4-game set in Fort Myers (Twins), and they had an incredibly lopsided win versus Bradenton (Pirates) to open their last home stand of the season on Tuesday night. A significant part of Tampa’s recent success has been on the back of 2025 1st round selection Dax Kilby, who since recording his first pro hit on August 14, has gone 12-for-30, hitting .400/.471/.500/.971 in the past 7 games with 2 doubles, a triple, and 6 RBI, including a 4-for-5 night with 3 RBI and a triple on August 26. .400/.471/.500/.971

Kilby’s late season performance is similar to that of which the Major League Yankees are experiencing with Giancarlo Stanton. In the last 15 games, Stanton is hitting 17-for-37, good for a .459/.535/1.108/1.643 and has driven in 18 RBI. Obviously, they’re two totally different hitters, and I’d be plenty happy to see consistent contact from Kilby if it’s not the insane kind of power that Stanton provides the Yankees, but both have been having an incredible past few weeks.

The Yankees have done incredibly well drafting shortstops the past few years, with their #1 prospect as their 2023 1st round pick, George Lombard Jr, doing decently well in Double-A Somerset (.208/.330/.339/.669). Then we get to Volpe, who did decently well in the Minors, like Lombard, but is one of the worst hitters in baseball, currently.

Anthony Volpe’s story was one that tugged on your heartstrings. The kid that grew up in Manhattan with Derek Jeter as his idol, then in a borough just outside where the Somerset Patriots play, was selected as a 1st round pick in 2019 by the Yankees. He debuted with (then) Short Season Pulaski in the Appalachian League in 2019, hitting .215 in 34 games. Draftees don’t typically do well their first year as they adapt to pro ball, so that’s a stat that one could usually toss aside.

He made his full-season debut in 2021, splitting exactly half the season with Low-A Tampa for the first 54 games and 55 games with High-A Hudson Valley. 

In 2021, he slashed .294/.423/.604/.1.027. His performance that season got both scouts and fans excited about the potential that Volpe had. He was completing plays efficiently, but still recorded 13 errors that season between Tampa (6) and HV (7). He would duplicate that in 2022, recording 13 errors between Somerset (11) and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (2). Both his offensive and defensive performances have only worsened since his Minor League career, though, with Volpe recording 17 errors in 2023, 16 in 2024 and 17 to date in 2025. While Volpe only spent 22 games in AAA, he hit similarly there to what he did last year: .236/.313/.404/.717 in 22 G, 24.7 K% in AAA; .243/.274/.400/.674, 26.7 K% in MLB, 2024.

However, while this season by Volpe seems worse than any others on the surface, in many respects, it is still better than that of his rookie campaign. It’s definitely fair to say that that’s a low bar. While the batting average is similar (.204 to date versus .209 in 2023), he has more doubles (26 vs 23), more RBI (65 vs 60), and is striking out at a better rate (26.8% vs. 30.9%). While obviously those numbers aren’t spectacular, and he’s most definitely in a slump of some kind of late, hitting 18-for-106 in his last 30 games (.170/.207/.368/.575), it’s possible that the changes to his swing mechanics are what’s causing the decline in offensive performance. 

Returning to the Tarpons and Yankees, both teams have not had a spectacular last few weeks in the standings, with Tampa sitting at 2nd from last in their division at 9.5 GB, despite going 6-4 in their last 10 games, and have been a .500 team in August (11-11). The Yankees, having played one more game than Tampa, are at an incredibly similar 12-11 (.522). Where things start to differ is when you look at the run differential. The Yankees have a positive run differential of over 100, while the Tarpons are +30 on the season.

Both the Yankees and Tarpons have unreliable bullpens. Case in point: On August 28, Allen Facundo threw 4 shutout innings, only allowing 2 hits and 5 walks, but reliever (and former two-way player) Josh Tiedemann came in to relieve Facundo, and gave up 3 runs in 2 IP, blowing any chances of the Tarpons winning since they only scored one run.

Where does that sound familiar? Maybe you can refer to Luis Gil’s game on August 21 vs. Boston where he went 5 IP, allowed 1 ER (2 R) on 4 H and 5 BB with 3 K but got no run support. Further, Camilo Doval came in behind him, and recorded a blown save (his 6th!) by allowing 1 run (earned) on 2 H and a BB. Like the Tarpons’ situation, the Yankees failed to provide their pitching any run support.

While it’s fair to criticize a minor league team in certain respects (the Tarpons have been frustrating to watch at times), one needs to remember that the farm teams exist purely to develop young men into potential Major League talent. It’s a gamble. I don’t think anyone predicted that Ben Rice would be performing as well as he is in the Majors when he took his first few ABs in the Yankees system in 2021. He looked impressive while he was in Tampa, but not this impressive. On the flip side, considering Volpe was named Florida State League Player of the Month for June 2021 on his last month in Tampa, he looked every bit the superstar he was touted to be.

Do we, both fans and media, need to give Volpe a little more time to figure things out? I think that time has ended. His stats are consistent, and this is who he is. The Yankees can possibly unlock something, since, after all, they have 5+ years of video and analytics to look at. There truly is no good option here, especially when you look at possibly sending him down to AAA or even AA, other than sitting him for a while as they possibly work on things in the background, and they play Jose Caballero instead.

Where do the Tarpons fit in here? They have a similar shortstop situation. They also have a shortstop/2B that’s been very inconsistent the past two seasons, and that’s likely why he’s been passed up on promotions over others like Lombard, named Roderick Arias. In July, he slashed .213/.330/.375/.705 and drove in 13 RBI in 80 AB. In August so far, he’s slashing .298/.392/.429/.821 with 14 RBI in 84 AB. Compare that to the .155/.302/.254/.556 slash he had in April. It’s just like last season, too.

The Yankees need to take a hard look at their team and the organization as a whole, as there are too many consistencies between the Tarpons and Yankees, plus their shortstop situation with the two teams is rather ironic. On behalf of both fans and media, this needs to happen soon, because too much talent is going to waste in the Bronx and too many of those guys deserve a ring.

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MLB Testing New Rules In The Florida State League

Saturday’s Yankees versus Red Sox game came under scrutiny when DJ LeMahieu hit the chalk on the 1st base foul line, but the play was called “foul”. It’s a judgment call, initially. Yankees manager Aaron Boone later argued that that judgment call set a poor standard for the potential of the call getting overturned. After the game, Yankees beat writers mused that MLB should implement something like how tennis has done for the same kind of in/out-of-bounds kind of play.

It’s not like the technology doesn’t exist. HawkEye is the same system used both in tennis as in baseball. It’s the system used for pitch placement with ABS, skeletal frames you may see replays of, plus lots of other data. Goodness, HawkEye has been upholding and overturning in/out calls since being implemented in 2001 with cricket.

In the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader in Tampa, I saw the first check swing challenge. Home plate umpire called no swing, field ump confirmed; upheld.

Two pitches later, it happened again. Same swing: umpire said batter swung, no challenge because Clearwater ran out of challenges (you only get the one challenge). I spoke to two scouts about this yesterday, and they noted that they didn’t like the challenge because of the inconsistency.

Our mutual thought was, “why have the challenge if the rule is inconsistent? If it’s the same swing, you have to call them the same.” I think only having the one challenge to use is an issue, especially if an umpire is being inconsistent like this. Further, I think it’s frustrating for many parties with these judgment calls, whether it’s the check swing or other plays, when there’s only one umpire on the field in these Low-A and FCL games in Florida.

It seems that MLB is trying to create a firm rule for where there used to be a judgment call. I was surprised to learn that that wasn’t actually a rule but instead a judgment call by the umpires. The unwritten rule is that the bat can’t break the front plane of the plate. However, MLB/MiLB has it in the Florida State League where anything past a 45-degree angle from the front plane of the plate. They note in this article that “the previous wiggle room has led to some wide interpretations of a swing over the years. Every so often, online clips go viral from Game 7 of the 1965 World Series of Don Mincher nearly bringing the bat around his entire body on pitches from Sandy Koufax, only to be called as non-swings.”

The first test (seen above) was implemented in the 2024 Arizona Fall League season, and maybe it makes more sense if it’s visualized as the video shows. At “The Tank”, the Tarpons’ home field for 2025, there is no video scoreboard, only a primitive scoreboard like you’d see at a high school or D-III college. Perhaps at any of the other stadiums across the Florida State League where they also display pitch challenges it may make more sense, but without visuals it’s difficult to wrap your head around. Before ABS calls were shown on the scoreboard, you could still see the pitches come in via the Baseball Savant site.

LHP Brock Selvidge throws a pitch for the Tampa Tarpons (John Brophy/John Brophy Baseball)

One of the tests that baseball has done the past few years is the “pie slice”, which prevents too much of a shift and puts a 45-degree angle around second base. It led, in a way, to the current shift rules implemented by Major League baseball where teams have to have two infielders on each side of second base, except for when an outfielder is brought in. It provides more defensive strategy, but the pie slice was supposed to encourage more offense so that if the batter were to hit a ball over the “pie slice”, there wouldn’t be a defender in the way to stop the ball.

In case you haven’t watched a Low-A game anytime recently, most batters cannot control the ball as well as a Major Leaguer, like say Aaron Judge, can, so the point of creating more offense is rather limited.

Some rules tested in the FSL, like the shift rule, have been implemented in the Majors. Most notably, the larger bases, increased to 18 inch squares from 15 inch squares, were a test in late 2022. Apparently both teams and players liked the change, especially in regard to player safety, and it was implemented in the Majors in 2023.

In 2021, alongside ABS testing, MLB/MiLB tested limiting pickoffs in the FSL like what we see now in the Majors where pitchers are limited to 2 pickoff attempts per at-bat with a third failed pickoff resulting in a balk. Also in 2021, the pitch timer was implemented, again like what is currently used in the Majors.

Revisiting the original discussion, I think most fans would agree that MLB should use the technology already installed in stadiums and actively used by the league and teams and have a system in place to be able to challenge calls like what we saw on Saturday. The video above that discussed HawkEye noted that it is accurate on dirt and clay, despite not being used at Roland Garros. And of course it is, since it’s been used in cricket for over two decades.

I should also add that the commentators on the Dodgers/Padres game on Monday night were discussing how awful of a check swing call they saw in the top of the 1st inning. As the inning went on, they kept griping about how it should have been strike 3, preventing a Padres run from coming in. They also mentioned that there should be a rule instead of being a judgment call.

I don’t necessarily agree that the “no swing” determination should be greater than 45-degrees past the front plane of home plate. I think it should go off of what is the unwritten rule of not going past that front plane. What happens when these players get promoted to High-A where they go back to the unwritten rule guidance? I suppose the same can be said with how the size and shape of the strike zone is different in the Florida State League compared to the “traditional” strike zone. The strike zone is 20 inches wide (1.5″ wider on each side of the plate) with a two-dimensional rectangle at the midpoint of the plate. The top and bottom of the strike zone is set at 53.5% and 27% of the batter’s height, respectively.

Do you like the changes that MLB has made lately, and do you agree with the various tests that are being done in the Minors?