Anthony Volpe embraces being a pest on the bases

Anthony Volpe is a pain in the ass on the bases.

Those aren’t his words, but it’s certainly a description he’s earned throughout his young pro career. And while the soft-spoken speedster may portray his running in a different light, the Yankees’ rookie shortstop has no issue with his skills being framed that way.

“Definitely. Yeah, 100%,” Volpe told the Daily News through laughter when asked if he’s proud of that reputation. “I’d like to think it adds a lot of value to the team.”

Indeed, it has.

Volpe is a perfect 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts to begin his major league career after swiping two bags in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ Tuesday win over the Guardians. He also homered in the game to get the Yankees on the board, but his fast feet helped the team’s struggling offense add an insurance run and garnered praise from Aaron Boone afterward.

“He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” the manager, a baseball lifer, said of Volpe’s baserunning.

Boone led the Reds in stolen bases with 32 in 2002 and 15 in 2003, but Volpe is on pace to surpass his skipper’s output. On Tuesday, Volpe became just the fifth player in Yankees history to record at least 10 steals through his first 31 career games. That’s also the most swipes by a Yankee through the club’s first 31 games of a season since Jacoby Ellsbury nabbed 11 in 2015.

Entering Wednesday, the Yankees had only lost one of the seven contests Volpe has stolen a base in — his game-high is three — and one-third of the team’s losses have come in games where he failed to get on base. Volpe has successfully reached in 17 of his last 19 starts.

Volpe’s 2.9 BsR, FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement-like stat for baserunning, also ranked second in the majors behind Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins II.

Granted, all of Volpe’s sample sizes are small right now, but there’s no doubt he’s brought a needed dynamic to the Yankees’ inconsistent lineup, especially since moving to the one-hole.

It’s why Aaron Judge told Volpe, “I want you stealing on every pitch.”

“A guy like Anthony, his singles turn into triples easy. He’ll get on first base, but you give him two pitches, he’ll be on second. You give him another pitch, he’ll be on third,” the Yankees’ captain said before landing on the injured list. “I just gotta put the ball in play and he’s probably gonna get to third or score.”

But steals and speed are not the only ways Volpe makes a difference on the bases.

Anyone who’s watched him closely knows he sometimes likes to “dance” when he gets on. Rather than taking a traditional lead, Volpe will dart back and forth from the base he’s occupying or vault off the bag in dramatic fashion.

Volpe credited Yankees baserunning coordinator Matt Talarico for teaching the technique, which he also used as a minor leaguer. The twitchy movements help Volpe gain momentum when he’s looking to run, but they also serve a purpose when he’s not.

“I’m never doing it just to do it,” Volpe said. “If the pitcher’s thinking 1% about me, then that means they’re not paying their full attention to all the great hitters we have in the lineup. So that’s definitely a benefit.”

Distracting — or even teasing — the pitcher is just one advantage.

“It helps to give me better pitches,” Judge added. “He’s giving our guys on the bench a chance to see certain pickoff moves, what the defense is trying to do. So I want him dancing around, moving as much as possible.”

Volpe considers himself responsible for showing his teammates as much as he can as the first guy up and, ideally, on. That’s why a large chunk of his pregame routine is devoted to baserunning work, his leads and watching film, especially since he became the Bombers’ leadoff man after Giancarlo Stanton’s injury moved DJ LeMahieu to the middle of the order.

Any tidbit that can be gleaned from a pitcher’s timing, delivery or pickoff move can make a difference.

“The same way we watch video on the pitchers for the scouting reports for what we’re gonna see in the box, we kind of do similar stuff with that on the bases,” Volpe said.

“There’s a skill and an art to it,” Boone recently noted. “If you’re not good at it, you get yourself in no-man’s land a lot and you end up getting yourself picked off a lot. It looks like he’s just hopping around out there, but he’s working pretty much on every pitch.”

On Tuesday, the manager added, “He’s a special baserunner.”

Boone’s compliments resonated with Volpe, but the still-perfect stealer also shied away from the kind words by highlighting the Yankees’ coaching staff and others who are capable of running.

Volpe said Tuesday that what he does on the basepaths is a “super important part of my game,” but he also feels he can improve.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” he said.

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