BOSTON — In a season of firsts for Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, the rookie played at Fenway Park for the initial time as a professional baseball player Friday night in the opener of a three-game series against the Red Sox.
Still, it was not the first time manning the Fenway diamond for the New Jersey product and childhood Yankees fan.
A few years earlier, Volpe had played in the iconic Beantown stadium with an All-Star squad of players from around the northeast.
“I’ve never seen a [major league] game here, so I’m excited for my first time here this year [with the Yankees],” Volpe told The Post before the Yankees’ 15-5 blowout loss to the Red Sox. “In high school, we got to play a game here that the scouts put on, like a showcase game, it was obviously so surreal for all of us. A lot of northeast and tri-state area guys, so we loved every second of it.
“That’s the only other time I’ve ever been here before, so I’m pumped. Just this whole week we’ve had — playing them [Boston] last weekend [at the Stadium], then playing the Subway Series [against the Mets], and now up here — it’s definitely pretty cool for me.”
Volpe, whose parents Isabella and Michael are in Boston for the weekend, entered the series batting just .192 with a .623 OPS over 258 plate appearances.
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His average rose to .195 after he went 1-for-2 with two walks in Friday’s loss, his first multi-walk game since April 26.
But he also contributed nine homers, 27 RBIs and 14 stolen bases over the first 69 games of his big-league career.
Volpe nearly belted a walk-off homer against the Red Sox in his initial game against them last Friday in The Bronx, but his shot down the left-field line in the ninth inning curled foul before he struck out for the final out of a 3-2 defeat.
“Just to see the Stadium and how intense it was, it was definitely another cool experience,” Volpe said.
“Myself, and as a team, we definitely have some things we need to improve, but I definitely wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. I’m really looking forward to experiencing this weekend, too.”
