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00:00Aaron, has there been a decision made on Anthony Volpe yet?
00:04No, no, we'll, you know, get through today and talk through that.
00:09Ultimately, what will be the deciding factor in that decision?
00:14Just wanting to do what's best for the team, for Anthony.
00:17All right, I hear you, Aaron Boone.
00:19I know it's complicated, but time's up.
00:21I want to talk about what the Yankees could do with Anthony Volpe.
00:24It's two guys who've seen the behind the scenes with Volpe
00:27throughout his time down with the Somerset Patriots.
00:30That's Greg Johnson of the Trentonian and Matt Cardos,
00:34senior writer of the Somerset Patriots.
00:36Matt, I'll start with you.
00:38Volpe just wrapped up another start down there in the rehab assignment.
00:42Aaron Boone was kind of noncommittal today when asked if he would join the team on Monday.
00:47So how did Volpe look down there?
00:49And how did he manage the pressure of the situation mentally?
00:55Yeah, I think Anthony Volpe, the one thing you could say about him, you know,
00:58whether he's high or low, he's always the same guy.
01:01You can't really tell whether he's riding high or riding low.
01:04And he handled himself, you know, the same way that he always has from the time he was a prospect
01:09to the time, you know, he reached the big, he's just a soft-spoken guy.
01:14We asked him because, you know, when that rehab assignment started a couple weeks ago,
01:18at that point, Brian Cashman had said that he was going to be the shortstop when he came back.
01:23And Anthony Volpe was still, you know, not approaching his rehab as if he was having anything handed to him
01:28at that point.
01:29But obviously things have changed.
01:31Circumstances have changed.
01:32And Jose Caballero's, you know, playing extremely well at shortstop for the Yankees, and they're winning.
01:38So for lack of a better word, you don't really want to upset the apple cart right now why things
01:42are going well.
01:43So as Volpe's rehab clock is coming up today, I mean, he, I wouldn't say he's, you know, lit anything
01:49up by any stretch.
01:50He went 0 for 4 today in what's probably the final technical rehab game for him.
01:55So he's going to finish that stint at batting 241, 11 hits during that, you know, couple weeks stint
02:02that took him through Somerset and AAA Scranton.
02:05But he also didn't do anything to not go back to the big leagues either.
02:08I thought he looked fine.
02:09He looked fluid defensively, you know, speed looks fine.
02:14Shoulder looks fine, making all the plays and all the throws.
02:16So I don't think that he necessarily did anything to lose his job, which it looks like that could be
02:21the case here
02:22as the rehab clock is ticking and, you know, it expires at the end of today.
02:26I don't think that he's done anything necessarily to lose the job, but I think it's more a result of
02:31Jose Caballero has played so well that they can't really afford to take him out of the lineup right now.
02:36Yeah, Greg, you heard him.
02:37I don't know if he's, like he said, he doesn't know if he's lost the job, but Cabby could have
02:41went out there
02:41and just absolutely took the job.
02:44Aaron Booney even said he's liked what he's done at shortstop to start the season.
02:49So do you feel like a little extra time down there in the minors would benefit Volpe,
02:54or do you feel like he is day one Bronx ready?
02:59Yeah, I think it would make sense to have him get some more time in the minors,
03:02partly because he's not exactly been tearing it up down there.
03:05I mean, 13 rehab games, he's gone 11 for 44 with just one extra base hit.
03:10He had a home run in AAA.
03:13But, yeah, like Matt was saying, like you guys are saying, I mean, you know,
03:16Caballero has been playing really well up there offensively and defensively.
03:19I think, you know, also if you don't think Volpe is going to necessarily play every day right now,
03:23it makes sense to have him in the minor leagues to get, you know, into a rhythm
03:26and be able to play every day, maybe, you know, gain a little confidence,
03:30you know, get that production up a little bit before you bring it back to the major leagues.
03:34Because, you know, again, it's not like he's tearing the cover off the ball.
03:38You know, he's doing fine.
03:39I mean, he looks healthy.
03:40He's running around well.
03:41His shoulder looks good.
03:44But I think he could use a little more time to get into a rhythm with the bat.
03:48All right.
03:49Let's move on and talk about Carlos Rodon and Garrett Cole.
03:53Greg, you saw these guys in action in their rehab starts.
03:57They're not pitching again until Tuesday.
03:59But what you've seen from these guys so far in terms of, I guess,
04:02ramping up their workloads to get season debut ready.
04:06We'll start with Cole, then finish with Rodon.
04:09What have you seen with Cole and with both of these guys?
04:14Yeah, they're both looking really good.
04:16I think the major difference right now is that Cole is firing a lot of strikes.
04:20His strike percentage has been very high.
04:22His three-rap starts, he's been at 81%, 80%, 75% strikes.
04:28Only one walk in his three starts, which spans 14 and a third.
04:33Rodon is a little bit – his stuff is a little more electric right now.
04:36He's getting more swing and miss.
04:38He's got 29 swing and misses – or 27, rather, in his two rehab starts, which is 17% of
04:45his total pitches.
04:46His last start on Thursday with Somerset, he had eight strikeouts, five of them with swing and miss on his
04:53changeup.
04:54Both those guys noted they were really working on their changeup, just the shape and movement on those pitches in
05:00their most recent rehab starts with Somerset.
05:03But overall, both are looking good.
05:05They're building up their pitch counts, throwing a lot of strikes, not allowing too much damage.
05:13But, you know, the main thing right now is that you want to see them healthy and, you know, building
05:19up those pitch counts.
05:20And their VLOs are both strong, too.
05:21I mean, you know, Cole's around 94, 95 right now, touching 96 a little bit.
05:26Rodon is more 92, 93.
05:29You know, he normally is – averages about 94.
05:32And he even noted the other day that he thinks that'll go up a tick or two anyway, just in
05:36the Bronx with the adrenaline.
05:37So, in terms of health, VLO, they're both very, very strong.
05:42The command's good for both of them.
05:44Not walking many guys at all.
05:46I would just say that Rodon's stuff is a little more big league ready right now, but that's to be
05:52expected.
05:53You know, Cole's coming back from a more major surgery, and his pitch count's not as high right now.
05:58You know, Cole's at only 60 pitches in his last start, and Rodon was at 75.
06:02So, Rodon is closer to the big leagues, and his stuff looks a little more ready.
06:06Matt, you feel the same way?
06:08Because there's a lot of people hoping that everything goes well, and Rodon makes his season debut as soon as
06:14May 10th on the road in Milwaukee.
06:16You feel like he could be available on May 10th from what you've seen?
06:22Yeah, I 100% agree with Greg.
06:24Rodon looked really good in that start against Portland this past Thursday.
06:28He got all the way up to 75 pitches.
06:31He got 15 swing and miss in those 75 pitches.
06:35The stuff looks crisp.
06:36He's yet to walk a batter in either of his rehab starts, so, you know, he's filling up the zone.
06:41He's throwing all of his secondary pitches for strikes.
06:45Like Greg said, he threw the changeup a lot on Thursday, which was a pitch that he only threw 16
06:50% of the time all of last season.
06:52He got five strikeouts swinging on that pitch on Thursday.
06:56After the game, he said he's intentionally, you know, trying to work his secondary stuff in more.
07:00His curveball is changeup, and he's obviously landing that stuff for strikes, but he noted, too, you know, his surgery
07:08is a lot different, and his rehab is a lot different than what Cole went through.
07:11It's a lot longer layoff, a lot longer no throw.
07:15So, you know, removing the loose bodies from his elbow, and, you know, he probably would have been back right
07:20now if it hadn't been for the setback with his hamstring during the spring.
07:24So he's a little bit behind where he probably would have been had that not had happened, but he's –
07:28I think he's definitely, you know, he's not far off from big league ready.
07:33We asked him on Thursday if he thought he could go up there and pitch right now, and he said,
07:38quote, I'm not going to say no.
07:40So that kind of tells you all you need to know where he thinks he's at.
07:44I think having got to 75 pitches here on Thursday, it sounds like, according to Aaron Boone, I think he
07:50said earlier today, he's going to pitch on Tuesday in Scranton, which is moving him up another level.
07:54I think you get him up, obviously, probably to that 80, 85 pitch mark, and, you know, from there, I
08:00think anything's on the table in terms of him making a return.
08:03Matt, knowing what you know about both of these pitchers throughout the course of their career, and then now you've
08:08got a chance to kind of see these guys,
08:11how do you think that ABS will affect their performance or even their pitching strategy when they get back to
08:17the majors, if it does?
08:20Yeah, I don't think it's going to affect them all that much.
08:22You don't really get a glimpse of it now during these rehabs because there is no ABS in AA.
08:27You don't have the opportunity to kind of utilize that there.
08:29But just knowing how savvy they are, how intelligent they are as pitchers, they're, you know, multiple-time All-Stars,
08:36Cole's a Cy Young Award winner.
08:38And it seems like just about all these pitchers up in the major leagues, everybody thought it would be, you
08:43know, a huge adjustment,
08:43but it doesn't really seem to be impacting them all that much.
08:47But just knowing these guys specifically, you know, just how smart and how savvy they are and intelligent on the
08:54mound
08:54and aware of everything at all times, I think they're going to be just fine in terms of kind of
08:59implementing that
09:00into what they have to do going back out to the mound in the Bronx.
09:05Greg, we're talking about them joining a pitching staff that already has Max Freed, Cam Schlittler.
09:10I mean, are we talking about one of the best rotations in baseball when Cole and Rodon are healthy and
09:15back on this team?
09:17Oh, yeah.
09:18I think when these guys get back in the rotation, the Yankees' rotation is as good as any in baseball.
09:23You know, you can maybe argue that there's one that's as good, but I don't think anyone is better than
09:28this rotation.
09:30Yeah, I think the Yankees can't get these guys back soon enough in terms of just really flashing, you know,
09:35what they have from top to bottom.
09:37And, you know, like Matt said, I think Rodon you're looking at probably is back in there after maybe one
09:43more rehab start.
09:45Cole's got, I think, at least three to four more probably just because, you know, he's come back from Tommy
09:50John.
09:51They're really trying to build him up and then have him repeat, I think, his top pitch count once he
09:57gets there.
09:57So you're also allowed to have Tommy John pitchers rehab for not only the 30 days that pitchers normally can
10:03do,
10:03but potentially three more extensions of 10 days each.
10:07So they could keep him in there until mid-June if they wanted to, but I think you'll see him
10:11a little sooner than that, the way things are trending.
10:15But certainly the Yankees are going to take their time a little bit more with Rodon, or I'm sorry, with
10:19Cole.
10:20But, yeah, I think by June or so, but, you know, I would say by the end of May or
10:25the very beginning of June,
10:26you're going to see the full arsenal of the Yankees' rotation.
10:28Matt, to end this off with a little smile for Yankees fans out there,
10:32what was it like behind the scenes for Volpe, Cole, and Rodon, kind of like wining and dining amongst the
10:39minor leaguers?
10:39Like, I hear the guys always eat really good or very well when a big leaguer joins them for a
10:45few days down there.
10:48Yeah, it's always, you know, a big hit.
10:50They cater a lot of local restaurants, steakhouses, and stuff like that where, you know,
10:54you'd normally get the local kind of fast food or the in-house catering.
10:57You know, some nights you're eating steak, some nights you're eating lobster.
11:00You know, it's all dependent on what the guys locally like to bring in.
11:04It's usually something different.
11:06It's interesting, though, because these guys do like to pick the brains of these players while they're there.
11:11I think Volpe is a little bit different of a situation than maybe Rodon and Cole just because Volpe is
11:16so young.
11:17He's not that much older than a lot of these guys and was in their shoes not that long ago.
11:22And Volpe is obviously, you know, with the team longer term.
11:25He's been there for a few weeks.
11:27But it was interesting.
11:28We asked George Lombard Jr., the Yankees' top prospect now, who just recently got promoted to AAA.
11:34He's in a similar position that Volpe was in just, you know, two years ago, three years ago.
11:38Top prospect, shortstop in Somerset with a lot of expectations.
11:42And he said that he was, you know, he could lean on Volpe for advice and kind of ask him
11:49what he did when he was in that position.
11:51So I know those two, that player specifically, George Lombard Jr., has, you know, leaned on Volpe a little bit
11:57before going up to AAA.
11:59Just to kind of pick his brain on what to expect now and moving forward as he hopes to get
12:04to the Bronx, just like Volpe did.
12:05All right, gentlemen, we appreciate you guys coming in and giving us the behind the scenes and insight of what
12:11you guys are seeing down there.
12:12Thanks for your time.
12:15Thanks.
12:15Appreciate you.
12:15Thank you, Brendan.
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