"Anthony Volpe, you watching this?" - Fans tag Yankees struggling SS after Alex Rodriguez shares sharp new baseball tutorial

MLB: Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees - Source: Imagn
Anthony Volpe was booed off the batter's box after a failed bunt attempt on Tuesday (Source: Imagn)

The New York Yankees fanbase's patience with Anthony Volpe seemed to have run out on Tuesday after he was booed following a failed bunt attempt in a 12-2 loss at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. The criticism hasn't stopped there, as the Yankees faithful also made their feelings known on social media.

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Franchise legend Alex Rodriguez posted a special training video explaining the art of bunting. The 3x former MVP explained the very basics of bunting and called it an important fundamental that could be crucial to winning championships.

"No bunting, no rings," Rodriguez captioned.
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On his Instagram post, Yankees fans flooded the comments section, complimenting A-Rod over the timing of the video while also tagging Anthony Volpe to take notes.

"Volpe you watching this?" one of the comments read.
Comments on Alex Rodriguez's post (Source: Instagram @arod)
Comments on Alex Rodriguez's post (Source: Instagram @arod)

The failed bunt attempt against the Tigers came at an extremely crucial stage for New York. With two runners on base with no outs in the fifth inning against starter Case Mize, Volpe attempted to bunt the pitch towards third base to advance the runners.

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Instead, the bunt ended up being a popout to third baseman Colt Keith. As the 24-year-old walked back to the dugout, he was rained with boos from the Yankees crowd. New York remained at 2 runs before a late surge from the Tigers against the Yankees' bullpen earned them the win.

The shortstop has struggled both offensively and defensively all season long. While he has hit 19 home runs and driven in 70 runs for his team, he has an 81 wRC+, which is 141st out of 146 qualified hitters. He is in an offensive slump dating back to June 25, batting at .171 with a .573 OPS.

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Defensively, he has committed the most errors (18) at his position in the American League, while his Outs Above Average (-8) is 23rd among 24 qualified shortstops.

Yankees currently 'day-to-day' on their shortstop selection

Ahead of their second game against the Tigers, the Yankees decided to give Jose Caballero a place in the starting lineup as their shortstop. Aaron Boone explained the situation by stating that a break could help Anthony Volpe.

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"We're in day-to-day mode," Boone said before New York's 11-1 loss to Detroit. "We're playing for a lot right now, and I have a decision to make every day with the lineup. And whatever tough decision I think that is, I'll make it.
"And my hope is that he can kind of get it going here to a point where he is that guy. Because I think when we're at our best, he's out there impacting us on both sides of the ball and frees up Cabby to play a different role, too. But, that said, I'll make a decision day by day."

The Anthony Volpe experiment, a chosen successor to the likes of Derek Jeter at one of the most important positions in the outfield, hasn't worked out for the Yanks thus far. Since his debut, his 84 career wRC+ is second last among qualified batters with over 1,500 plate appearances,

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Edited by R. Nikhil Parshy
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