Anthony Volpe Makes History While Winning The Gold Glove Award

On November 5th, it was announced that Anthony Volpe won the Gold Glove award at shortstop in the American League.

New York Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone had continuously voiced his opinion that Volpe “has a real chance of winning a Gold Glove.”

Boone understands how valuable the shortstop position is, and he praised him for his defensive efforts:

“To do that at a premium position like that, it’s huge,” Boone said in early October.

With Volpe winning the Gold Glove award, he became the first New York Yankee to win a Gold Glove award as a rookie in franchise history.

“I never really had goals or anything like that going into the season, numbers-wise, but when you can put yourself in Yankees history, that’s pretty crazy,” Volpe said during the season.

He also became the second Yankees shortstop to win a Gold Glove award, joining his childhood idol Derek Jeter.

Volpe also became the youngest shortstop ever to win a Gold Glove, surpassing Detroit Tigers’ legend Alan Trammel who won the Gold Glove award in 1980 (per MLB.com).

Volpe had also made Yankee history on offense, becoming the first rookie in franchise history to record a 20-20 season (20+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases) recording 21 home runs and 24 stolen bases.

Star veteran shortstops Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers and Carlos Correa of the Minnesota Twins were the other finalists for the American League shortstop Gold Glove award.

Volpe’s defense wasn’t immaculate however, as he did commit 17 errors. But among American League shortstops, Volpe was tied for sixth with one Out Above Average (per Baseball Savant) and was second in Defensive Runs Saved, recording 15 (per FanGraphs).

Boone continues to have high hopes for his shortstop moving forward:

“For a 22-year-old shortstop of the New York Yankees that won a job in Spring Training, essentially barely playing over Double-A, I think on balance it’s been a really strong debut,” Boone said. “There’s no doubt that he’s going to be one of the cornerstone guys for us moving forward in the future.”

Volpe was the Yankees’ first draft pick in 2019, being selected with the 30th overall pick in the first round. He quickly shot up the MLB prospect rankings list because of his great production in Single A and Double A. This led to Volpe getting a spring training invite and eventually making the Yankees’ opening day roster, making his Major League Baseball debut on March 30th.