Anthony Volpe has been the spark plug that the Yankees needed in front of Aaron Judge coming into 2023. Impressively, he’s found a way to be indispensable without immediate results at the plate, which can’t be guaranteed from a rookie anyway.
Any player who has mastery over the strike zone is extremely valuable. A rookie with a walk rate in the 96th percentile according to Statcast, though, is rare — Juan Soto rare. Yes, Volpe probably won’t sustain such an elite mark and it would be folly to place Soto-like expectations on him, but it’s still impressive for a 21-year-old in his first month in the majors (after only a couple weeks at Triple-A last year).