Josh Donaldson did not mince words when he started talking about how the New York Yankees handle young players. The former third baseman used his podcast to argue that fans in the Bronx have more say over who stays and who goes than supporters of almost any other club.
Donaldson, the 2015 American League MVP, co-hosts Get It Done League with former catcher Russell Martin. On a recent episode he drifted into a broader rant about the organization and landed on Anthony Volpe.
“It happens all the time in New York. With Volpe, they wanted Volpe. Boom boom, he had his run. When he wasn’t playing well… The fans really do hold a unique sense for that team. Pull for that team with that front office, because more than any other team, if there’s a guy that needs to be called up and the fans are barking loud enough, he gets called up. If a guy needs to get sent down, released, whatever, he’s gone. The fans, they control that.”
That is the exact quote. He did not walk it back.The Yankees sent Volpe to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last month. He was in the middle of his fourth big-league season, all of them spent in pinstripes. Before the demotion the 25-year-old was batting .240 with 41 hits, one home run, 19 RBIs, 20 runs and seven stolen bases in 56 games.
Volpe arrived with huge expectations. New York selected him in the first round of the 2019 draft straight out of high school. He was viewed as one of the best prospects in the sport and won a Gold Glove at shortstop as a rookie in 2023. In 2024 he was part of the roster that helped the Yankees win the World Series.
Donaldson had not always framed the conversation that way. Earlier this summer, on the same podcast, he described Volpe as “one of the best” and “such a great kid.” He noted that Volpe had been his locker mate and “always a student of the game, always working his tail off.” The two comments sit side by side now, one personal and one about the market.
Monday was an off day for the Yankees after they finished a three-game set with the San Diego Padres in California. They lost Sunday 4-3 and dropped two of the three games. New York sits 81-62 and four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. The club opens a homestand Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies.
Donaldson’s own Yankees chapter was short and messy. The team traded for him before the 2022 season and released him in August 2023 after he hit poorly. He finished that year with Milwaukee and retired the following spring. He has spoken often since then about the unique pressure that comes with playing in New York.
Volpe has not been idle in Triple-A. After the August option, he began seeing time at second and third base in addition to shortstop. Recent reports show he has found more power with the RailRiders, including a stretch of home runs and extra-base hits in early September. Whether that is enough to force a September call-up is another question.
Manager Aaron Boone has repeatedly said he still believes in Volpe’s work ethic and talent. The front office has publicly backed the same idea even as the fan base grew louder. Donaldson’s latest remarks put that tension in plain language: the noise from the stands can speed up a decision that might take longer in another city.
The Yankees still have work to do if they want to catch Tampa Bay or lock down a wild-card spot. They have 19 games left after Monday. A series against a last-place Rockies club offers a chance to gain ground quickly.
Volpe’s next chapter is not settled. He remains under team control and is still only 25. The organization once treated him as the shortstop of the future. Right now he is trying to prove he belongs back in the majors, whether at shortstop or somewhere else on the infield.
Donaldson’s point was not complicated. In New York, he said, the fans bark loud enough that the front office usually hears them. The Volpe situation, in his view, is just the latest example.
