TORONTO — After Anthony Volpe decisively won the Yankees’ starting shortstop job in spring training, he received a call from a guy who knew a thing or two about what he was getting himself into.
It just so happened to be his idol growing up.
Derek Jeter got on the phone with Volpe at the end of camp, a call set up by Hal Steinbrenner, to share some advice for the then-21-year-old shortstop.
“Jeter was nice enough to talk to him for a little bit and give him some words of encouragement,” Steinbrenner said Tuesday on The Post’s “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” podcast. “It was a great meeting.”
Growing up in New Jersey as a diehard Yankees fan, Volpe’s favorite player was Jeter.
During his path to the majors, Volpe had even received some Jeter comparisons for his makeup, which was part of the reason the Yankees felt confident in having him break camp with the team after he clearly outperformed Oswald Peraza and Isiah Kiner-Falefa in spring training.
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On the eve of Opening Day, when Volpe became the youngest Yankee to start the season opener since Jeter in 1996, the Hall-of-Famer sent his congratulations to the rookie via Twitter, writing, “There’s nothing like playing shortstop for the New York Yankees.”
Volpe has gotten off to a solid start to the season, handling himself well in the field while showing some pop at the plate and entering Tuesday 13-for-13 in stolen bases.
“I think he’s really come around hitting-wise now,” Steinbrenner said. “The defense has been solid. I thought it was going to be an extremely difficult decision. It turned out to be not so. It was almost unanimous with everybody that was in the room during that final meeting in talking about him. The right message was delivered to him: I sat down with him before camp broke and I told him, ‘You are our starting shortstop for 2023. This is not a trial. It’s going to be that way through the ups and the potential downs.’”
Steinbrenner said he spoke with Volpe’s dad as well to reinforce the message that the Yankees were going to stick with Volpe even if he struggled.
“But for the most part, he’s just done phenomenal,” Steinbrenner said.
