SAN DIEGO — There’s been no built-up drama so far this weekend on one of the interesting and impressive footnotes to the Yankees beating up on the Padres two nights in a row.
Both games began with Anthony Volpe hits that extended the majors’ longest active hitting streak to 18 games, which also made it the Yankees’ longest since Derek Jeter hit in 19 consecutive games in 2012.
Saturday night’s 4-1 Yankees win at Petco Park started with Volpe lining Dylan Cease’s first pitch of the game to left center for a single, and it led to two runs when Aaron Judge homered two batters later.
The night before, Volpe led off the game by tripling to left field off Yu Darvish. That spark turned into to an early run when Judge hit a sacrifice fly and later an Yankees 8-0 win.
“What Volpe is doing out of the leadoff spot has been incredible,” Judge said. “It’s fun to watch.”
As of a couple weeks ago, manager Aaron Boone hadn’t made a final decision on whether Volpe would stay in the leadoff spot when DJ LeMahieu comes off the injured list and starts his season.
LeMahieu is returning Tuesday, but he surely will be hitting down in the order instead of in his 2019-23 usual leadoff spot.
Volpe batted just .209 as a rookie in 2023, but he was sitting at a solid .282 this year playing 53 of the Yankees’ first 54 games.
Judge predicted in spring training that Volpe would be a more consistent hitter this season.
Is this what he expected?
“This and more,” Judge said.
More?
“He’s still improving,” Judge added. “He’s still getting better as the season is going on. As he gets more at-bats under his belt, he’ll continue to improve.”
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Judge already sees improvements from last year, such as
“He’s using the whole field. He’s hitting the ball in the middle. He had a triple down the (third-base) line. He’s had quite a few homers to right field. It’s impressive when he uses the whole field and uses his speed.
“He is one of the best shortstops in the game. We’re lucky to have him and I’m happy he’s hitting in front of Juan.”
The Yankees lead the American League in runs and homers with Volpe mostly hitting first ahead of Juan Soto and Judge.
While Soto and Judge are making early runs at winning the AL MVP, Volpe has been one of the most improved hitters in the league.
“He’s playing at such a high level,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I’m seeing him mature more and more all the time.
“Just a great job of setting the tone for us offensively in the first (Saturday night), setting the stage for Aaron to do his thing. And I thought (he had) a really good at-bat later going the other way there (for a single).”
Volpe, who finished with a 2-for-5 night, is batting .333 during his hitting streak with one three-hit game and six two-hit games.
Only 37 more to pass Joe DiMaggio, whose 56-game streak in 1941 probably will last forever.
In the last decade, there have been only two streaks in the majors that made it to 30 games: Whit Merrifield’s 31 games with the Royals in 2018-19 and Freddie Freeman’s 30 with the Braves in 2016.
If Volpe gets another hit on Sunday to make it a 19-game streak, he’ll be linked to DiMaggio as one of two Yankees to have hitting streaks longer than 18 games at age 23 or younger.
As a 22-year-old in 1937, DiMaggio had hitting streaks of 22 games and 20 games.
Volpe turned 23 on April 28.
“It’s extremely hard just getting one hit in a baseball game,” Judge said. “It’s hard with the type of (pitchers) that we’re facing, but (Volpe) is a tough kid. He keeps his head down and shows up and works.
“I don’t think he really cares about hitting streaks. He’s more focused on trying to touch first base so Juan can do his thing behind him.”
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.
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