Since the retirement of their iconic team captain Derek Jeter in 2014 — following a 20-year, Hall of Fame career that included 14 All-Star selections, four Gold Gloves, eight 200-hit seasons and most importantly five World Series rings — the New York Yankees have been searching for a shortstop to take his place.
In the ensuing decade, the Yankees have cycled through at least 18 pretenders to Jeter’s legacy. Yankee fans will recall such illustrious names as Didi Gregorious, Marwin Gonzalez, Stephen Drew and Adeiny Hechaverria all being penciled into the six-hole at various times by Yankees managers.
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But there was hope for another franchise icon in the form of Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ 2020 first-round draft pick.
Volpe was a local kid, drafted out of Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey, who came with an international pedigree, winning a gold medal with the Team USA Under-18 squad at the 2018 Pan-American Games in Panama.
When he made his big league debut in 2023, Volpe was tagged “the spiritual successor” to Jeter. But since then things have not worked out the way Volpe, or the Yankees and their fans, would have envisioned.
In his 2 1/2 major league seasons Volpe has not posted an OPS over .700. In fact, his meager .671 at the All-Star break this year would be a career high. He has not enjoyed a multi-hit game since June 21, and though he won a Gold Glove in his rookie season, his 11 errors in 95 games are the most in MLB (tied with two other players).
In Sunday’s 60th annual MLB draft, the Yankees appeared to express exactly how little confidence they have in Volpe by using their only two picks on Day 1 on two shortstops.
With their first pick, No. 39 overall — they lost their first-round pick at No. 29 because they exceeded the luxury tax limit — the Yankees selected Dax Kilby, an 18-year-old shortstop from Newnan High School in Newman, Georgia.
Kilby is committed to play baseball at Clemson, so New York will hope that the $2.5 million bonus slotted for the 39th pick will be enough to lure him away from college.
MLB Pipeline describes the teenage shortstop as “one of the more polished high school bats available,” noting that “Kilby has a track record of producing against quality competition on the showcase circuit.”
The Yankees also gave up their second-round slot by signing free agent pitcher Max Fried in the offseason, so their next pick did not arrive until late in the third round, at No. 103.
The New York Yankees select Kaeden Kent with the 103rd pick of the MLB Draft.
A guy who had a knack for coming up with a clutch hit, he authored one of the most memorable moments in Texas A&M sports history in the 2024 Super Regionals versus Oregon.
pic.twitter.com/UMLehn6k5w— Ryan Brauninger (@R_Brauninger) July 14, 2025
They used that one on another shortstop, Kaeden Kent — son of former major leaguer and five-time All-Star Jeff Kent — out of Texas A&M.
Yankees domestic amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer called the lefty-swinging 21-year-old, “athletic, and can really play shortstop.”
Of course, even the best prospects generally take at least a year or two to reach the big league level, if they ever do, so neither of the two shortstops taken by the Yankees on Sunday immediately threatens Volpe’s job.
But in 2023, the Yankees had a first-round pick, at No. 26, and used it on yet another high school shortstop, George Lombard Jr., who quickly became the No. 1 ranked prospect in the Yankees’ farm system.
So Volpe’s days may indeed be numbered if he doesn’t take his performance to a new level in the second half of the season.
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