If New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe gets on base, the odds are overwhelmingly high he’s about to complete a trip around the bases. Unfortunately, the first part of the equation doesn’t happen nearly often enough.

Conversely, MVP Aaron Judge had no issue reaching base in 2024. His teammates, sadly, also had no issue stranding him there.

Codify Baseball recently recapped the 2024 season by compiling a list of how often every player who reached base 175+ times, home runs excluded, ended up coming around to score (per Baseball Reference). Volpe was remarkably efficient at converting, finishing second in baseball in this enjoyable metric. Judge? If he wasn’t knocking himself in, he probably wasn’t touching the plate, scoring on just 24% of his opportunities. That ranked tied for seventh-worst in baseball, alongside Brendan Donovan, a popular Yankees trade target.

That doesn’t bode fantastically for the addition of Paul Goldschmidt and rumored connection to Nolan Arenado, two people who loved to strand Donovan in 2024. It also speaks volumes about the Yankees’ offense; Volpe had elite run producers behind him and speed to burn, but struggled to reach base. Judge? He loved to pick up his teammates, but rarely got picked up himself by Giancarlo Stanton/Anthony Rizzo/et al.

Yankees’ Anthony Volpe always finds his way home, Aaron Judge is often stranded

Judge, sadly, exacted his revenge in October by stranding a Mega Yacht full of run-scoring applicants. Remember how many times Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto reached base to begin postseason games, only to be left there by the Captain? Now, imagine that scenario this fall, but without Torres and Soto. Or don’t! Probably better to not.

The new-look Yankees may be less top heavy next season, but should excel at run prevention and lineup balance. The highs might not be quite so high, but they seem likely to have insurance against the all-time lows they suffered at various inflection points of 2024.

And, on top of everything, if Volpe can channel his playoff experience and newfound contact profile into more consistent 2025 success, then he might just be able to run over the AL East in Year 3 to the level he’s always been fated to.