Anthony Volpe entered Saturday in an 0-for-24 slide.
Following Friday night’s loss, Yankees manager Aaron Boone acknowledged that a day off could benefit the third-year shortstop and said it would “probably” come in Sunday’s series finale against the Baltimore Orioles.
Volpe was in the lineup Saturday, batting seventh, to face O’s starter Zach Eflin.
“I know I wanted to get DJ [LeMahieu] down today after the [night] game,” Boone said Saturday, explaining why he was targeting Sunday for Volpe’s day off.
“I like DJ in there against [Dean] Kramer tomorrow, and I like Volp’ against Eflin. It doesn’t always work perfect when you’d like to, but that’s just kind of my thinking.”
Volpe went into Saturday afternoon’s game in the Bronx with six hits in 18 at-bats (.333) against the right-handed Eflin in his career.
But the 23-year-old Volpe was hitless in his previous six games, dropping his season average to .228. During the 0-for-24 stretch, Volpe had swung at 45% of pitches outside of the strike zone, compared to 22% over his first 68 games, according to Statcast.
Boone believes the infielder’s “timing” has been off.
“As hitters, you want to get into position on time or early. Make your move. That’s when you fire at good pitches,” Boone said.
“I think that has been off, and therefore he’s expanded [the strike zone] because he’s not in a good position to hit consistently. He’s had some weaker swings on pitches just because he’s not completing his move, gets a little stuck.”
Volpe entered Saturday with 40 RBI, which were tied for the fifth most among MLB shortstops. He was on pace for 17 home runs, and his .711 OPS represented a career high.
Aaron Judge said the best thing for Volpe to do is “keep going.”
“I think he knows what he needs to work on, and he’s a guy that will definitely outwork anyone in this room,” Judge said after Friday’s game.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in him, just like everybody else in this room. Just go out there and keep doing your thing. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t feel bad for yourself, because nobody else — especially the Orioles, don’t feel bad for you. So just go out there and keep doing your thing.”
Boone did not sense that Volpe had gotten down on himself during the rough patch.
“Somebody asked me, ‘Is he pressing?’ I don’t think that’s the case,” Boone said Saturday.
“I think it’s as simple as just [being] a little off timing-wise, therefore not as good of swings coming out. And I feel that’s more the last three or four days as opposed to the first part of [the hitless streak]. The first three or four days in that, I felt like he was fine.”
