Yankees’ Anthony Volpe gets brutal recovery update after shoulder surgery

The New York Yankees saw a concerning regression for everyday shortstop Anthony Volpe this season and now they might have to adjust to life without him.

After earning a Gold Glove Award during his rookie campaign and then batting .243 the year after, Volpe batted just .212 and performed as one of the worst defenders at his position this year. Despite the poor performances, Yankees manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman publicly defended Volpe. And on Wednesday, news surfaced that the shortstop had undergone surgery to treat a shoulder injury that might explain some of his issues.

“It’s unknown just how much of Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe’s dismal 2025 season can be attributed to playing from May through the playoffs in October with a partially torn left shoulder labrum,” Randy Miller wrote for NJ.com. “Less than a week after the Yankees were eliminated by the Blue Jays in a Division Series, Volpe underwent surgery to repair his shoulder.”

The team is surely hoping that the surgical fix can help Volpe regain his form and build on some of the progress he made earlier in his career. But depending on how his body recovers from the procedure, the Yankees might not be able to assess the results until well into next season.

“Recovery from surgery is usually six-to-nine months, so he’d probably miss at least the first few months of the season,” projected Dr. Spencer Stein, a sports orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Health, according to Miller. “Anytime that you’re fixing something like a labrum, it may heal in three or four months. But then to really get your strength back, everybody’s different, but I would estimate six-to-nine months.”

If Volpe’s recovery falls on the far end of that projection, he wouldn’t be ready to return to the field until June, shortly before the All-Star break. As a result, the Yankees might be forced to turn to Jose Caballero as their everyday shortstop option to open the season or to seek another option to add to the roster.

For now, though, the team is likely waiting to see how Volpe initially recovers from the surgery before determining their opening day shortstop plans. 

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