Thursday, March 30, 2023, is the day baseball fans across the country and even the world have been waiting for. With a total of 15 games all sandwiched into one day, it was sure to be a huge day of baseball for fans everywhere. This day would mark the beginning of the 162-game season running into early November for the end of the championship season, and mid-October for the conclusion of the regular season. For some teams, this will be their conclusion, as obviously not all teams can make the playoffs. With that being said, it is still just the early season, and there are plenty of games left to play to shake up the postseason picture.  

Of course, there have been early predictions, but they are just that, early predictions. If you were to take an early look at the playoff pictures for the AL East in particular, the New York Yankees are looking to be the early favorite to win the division. One of the more notable events for the Yankees on Opening Day was the MLB debut of Anthony Volpe.

Volpe is only 21 years old, making him the youngest Yankees player to have an opening day start since Derek Jeter did just that on Opening Day of 1996. Many people are saying that Volpe is bringing a sort of young ‘fast spark’ to an otherwise more power-focused Yankees team. That ‘fast’ aspect that he brings is Volpe’s base stealing prowess.

In fact, when he stole third base in the seventh inning of the Yankees game against the Giants just a couple of days back, he became the fifth player in MLB history since 1901 to steal a base in each of their first three MLB games. Volpe is the first to do it since Billy Hamilton of the Reds did it 10 years ago. Volpe’s teammates appreciate his ability on the base path, with one teammate, first baseman Anthony Rizzo saying, “Even with two strikes and a runner on third, it makes me relax a lot more knowing I can put the ball in play, just get that run in. Every run you add on late in the game usually pays off big time.”

As far as batting performance goes, Volpe has accumulated three hits total thus far in the season, leading to a batting average of .214—nothing too crazy, but not bad either for just five games into the season of 162. Volpe has a lot of promise, but also faces lots of expectations because of this. Finding the balance between these two is a difficult task, but if accomplished will show all the more that he has what it takes to play in the big leagues.

All in all, Volpe looks like he will bring new energy to the team, and it will be quite a season watching him progress through the big leagues even at such a young age.