Today, we get crazy with stat splits, looking at Anthony Volpe's stats before and after the infamous chicken parmesan incident on June 12.
New York Yankees rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe, who was viewed as the wunderkind and second coming of Derek Jeter earlier this season, fell out of favor as the months went on. Rookie woes pushed him into a tough slump that looked as if he wouldn't be able to dig himself out of without being sent back down to Triple-A to work things out.
There are plenty of qualifiers to keep in mind, chief among them that Volpe was called up extremely early. He had fewer than 100 plate appearances at AAA before getting called up to the big league team. Struggles are not exactly surprising for a player that's being forced to figure it out as he goes.
But now, he's back to his strong play of the early season, batting even better now than he did to start the year. It all was started by an off-day chicken parmesan dinner he shared with old minor league teammates.
First reported by Gary Phillips at the New York Daily News, that dinner resulted in a changed stance after the group reviewed some of his old at-bats compared to his slump this year. These stories are why you have to absolutely love baseball. This is what makes it fun.
Anthony Volpe stats before and after the infamous chicken parmesan dinner
Sometimes, all it takes is a quality chicken parmesan to get things on track, right? Here's a look at the stats through games on July 1.
Anthony Volpe stats before the chicken parm incident (67 games):
- Slash line: .186/.260/.345
- OPS: .605
- BABIP: .234
- Doubles: 5 (.07 per game)
- Triples: 2 (.03 per game)
- Home runs: 9 (.13 per game)
- Walks: 22 (.33 per game)
- Stolen bases: 14 (.21 per game)
Anthony Volpe stats after the chicken parm incident (16 games):
- Slash line: .373/.448/.569
- OPS: 1.017
- BABIP: .500
- Doubles: 5 (.31 per game)
- Triples: 1 (.06 per game)
- Home runs: 1 (.06 per game)
- Walks: 7 (.44 per game)
- Stolen bases: 2 (.125 per game)
As we can see, the batting is all-around just way better since Volpe had a chance to get with some of his old buddies and diagnose his swing. There are two areas where he's actually not as good after the incident, though: Home runs and stolen bases.
While that is true, both could progress with a larger sample size. Plus, for a while, Volpe's calling card was solely his stolen bases when he was struggling at the plate. The Yankees will take a player with an OPS above a thousand over an elite baserunner every single day. The ability to steal bases doesn't matter at all if you can't get yourself on base.
Volpe's home run decline might appear concerning, but his increase in doubles shows you everything you need to know. The Yankees have lived and died by the home run, so his double rate increasing is actually far more encouraging.
