Aaron Judge isn’t the only one weighing down the Yankee lineup lately.
The team turned to two of its recent first-round picks to get younger over the past two seasons and Anthony Volpe has emerged as a solid everyday shortstop, even if his offense is inconsistent.
And Austin Wells took over from Jose Trevino as the starting catcher over the second half of 2024.
The moves have worked out well enough that the Yankees are in their first World Series since 2009, but both are off to horrendous starts in a series against the Dodgers in which the Yankees have dropped the first two games and come back to The Bronx looking to turn the series around in Game 3 on Monday night.
The two players, who came up through the minor league system together, had their spots in the lineup come up with the bases loaded and the Yankees trailing by two runs in the top of the ninth of Saturday’s loss to the Dodgers in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium.
It didn’t go well.
Volpe whiffed on a 2-2 sweeper from right-hander Blake Treinen that ended up far out of the strike zone for the second out of the inning.
The Dodgers then went to left-hander Alex Vesia to face the lefty-swinging Wells, and Aaron Boone didn’t even let Wells get to the plate.
Instead, Trevino was used as a pinch hitter versus the lefty, even though the veteran catcher has just one hit in the postseason.
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He lined out to center on the first pitch he saw to end the game.
It was part of what’s been a rough first two games of the Series for the players who were drafted a year apart, with Volpe going 30th overall in 2019 and Wells 28th overall in ’20.
After an impressive first two rounds of the postseason in which Volpe took some of his best at-bats of the year, showed considerable patience at the plate and hit the ball hard consistently, he is hitless in eight at-bats against the Dodgers with four strikeouts.
The only time Volpe has reached base in his past 11 plate appearances, in fact, was an intentional walk in the top of the sixth of Game 1 versus lefty Anthony Banda.
Wells’ slump goes back to his final 14 games of the regular season, when the catcher went 3-for-45 with a dozen strikeouts.
“Wells just keeps having the same at-bat over and over again,’’ one AL scout said. “It’s not like with Volpe, where the Dodgers have handled him well and maybe he can make an adjustment. With Wells, it seems like he’s doing it to himself.”
Overall this postseason, Volpe has a slugging percentage of .270, with Wells coming in at .171.
And if the Yankees are going to stage a comeback, they’re going to need more than just Judge to get going.
