Two HUGE debuts on Opening Day: Get to know these future stars
Opening Day is at all times thrilling. This yr, the arrival of two elite prospects to 2 of baseball’s most storied franchises provides to the anticipation much more.
In Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker (No. 4 per MLB Pipeline) and Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe (No. 5), two of the sport’s prime prospects made Opening Day rosters and can make their Major League debuts when their groups start play Thursday. Two of the highest Minor League performers from a yr in the past, the 20-year-old Walker and 21-year-old Volpe each pressured the difficulty this spring, rewriting their massive league timelines with robust performances regardless of restricted upper-level expertise within the Minors.
Walker will debut having by no means performed at Triple-A, reaching solely (and excelling at) Double-A Springfield in 2022. Volpe squeezed in 22 video games at Triple-A final season, his first style of the extent. Now each will debut within the Majors on the identical day for 2 of probably the most iconic golf equipment within the sport.
Along with Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson (No. 1) and Arizona’s Corbin Carroll (No. 2), 4 of baseball’s prime 5 prospects per MLB Pipeline will probably be beginning on Opening Day within the massive leagues. Here is a more in-depth take a look at the 2 latest arrivals of that group, and a recap of how they obtained right here.
Anthony Volpe, SS, Yankees
Overall prospect rating: No. 5
Opening Day age: 21 years, 336 days
Hometown: Watchung, N.J.
The Yankees’ first-round Draft choose (thirtieth general) in 2019, Volpe is about as homegrown because it will get, having grown up taking part in baseball on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and finally into one of many Garden State’s higher prospects of the final decade. He started fulfilling that promise with a 27-homer, 33-steal full-season professional debut in 2021, and have become the Minors’ first 20-homer, 50-steal participant since Andruw Jones in 1996 whereas reaching Triple-A down the stretch final season.
Volpe then performed his manner onto the Yankees roster with an ideal spring, outplaying Oswald Peraza and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to win the group’s beginning shortstop job outright. His wonderful efficiency in Grapefruit League play (.308, 10 extra-base hits in 18 video games), mirrored the bat-first all-around skill that has at all times made Volpe such an thrilling prospect.
He would be the youngest participant to start out a Yankees season opener since Derek Jeter in 1996, and the primary Yankees place participant to make his Major League debut by beginning on Opening Day since Hideki Matsui in 2003. The Yankees haven’t had a shortstop do it since Jerry Lumpe in 1956.
“We entered camp with an open competition; we said it publicly and we said it privately,” GM Brian Cashman informed reporters together with MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “The obvious exclamation point here is: Anthony Volpe came into camp and took this position. He should be congratulated. It was well played. He’s earned the right to take that spot for the New York Yankees as we open the 2023 season. We’re excited for him and excited for us.”
Jordan Walker, OF, Cardinals
Overall prospect rating: No. 4
Opening Day age: 20 years, 312 days
Hometown: Stone Mountain, Ga.
The precocious and immensely gifted Walker did nothing however hit since turning into the Cardinals’ first-round choose (twenty first general) within the 2020 Draft, posting averages above .300 and slugging percentages above .500 in every of his first two full Minor League seasons, and producing a 128 wRC+ as a 20-year-old at Double-A in 2022. He’d by no means seen a pitch in Triple-A when he burst onto the scene this spring, posting a .803 OPS with eight extra-base hits in 19 Grapefruit League video games, together with early residence runs of 470, 450 and 430 ft. By taking Walker north and letting him bypass Triple-A, the Cardinals’ state of affairs is reminiscent to 2001, once they did the identical with a precocious 21-year-old named Albert Pujols.
“We were always very high on him coming into camp and he did a lot of things to impress a lot of people,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak informed reporters together with MLB.com’s John Denton. “He’s obviously a very mature player and has a great understanding of the game. He opened up a lot of eyes here in this camp, and he is someone who benefited from other people not being here [due to the World Baseball Classic]. It created a lot of at-bats and innings for him, and he made the most of it.”
Everything about Walker is massive: his dimension, his energy, his arm, and his potential. He’s 6-foot-5, 220 kilos, with a 70-grade arm, light-tower energy and, by all accounts, a maturity past his years. He is the eighth Cardinal to earn an Opening Day roster spot earlier than his twenty first birthday, and the primary since Rick Ankiel in 1999. He was the youngest participant in Double-A final yr and is the youngest within the Majors this yr. St. Louis: Meet your subsequent famous person.
