On Tuesday night in the Bronx, the Anthony Volpe logged three hits, including a triple, to raise his season OPS to .803 while hitting .339 in his last 25 games.
The night before, in Toronto, Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson went 1-for-3 with a double, two walks, and three runs scored to raise his OPS to a robust .957, while in Cleveland, Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. continued his MVP-like campaign with two home runs, raising his batting average to .319 and his OPS to .935.
All three shortstops have still yet to reach their prime. Volpe and Witt are 23 years old, while Henderson will be 23 in a matter of weeks. Yet all three are simultaneously showing signs of what they can be at the major league level.
Could we be in for an electric shortstop trio that the American League hasn’t seen since the days of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Nomar Garciaparra?
The formula is certainly there. Volpe, Witt, and Henderson were all hyped prospects before making their debut. The excitement around Volpe kept the Yanks from signing established star shortstops while he was shooting up the minor league ranks. Witt was a second overall pick, while Henderson was regarded by many as the top prospect in baseball before joining the O’s.
All three have shown that their hype was warranted, and we likely haven’t seen the best of any of them yet, which is hard to believe given how all three have blossomed in 2024.
Similar instant impacts were made by the Jeter/A-Rod/Nomar trio. In Rodriguez’s first full MLB season, he won a batting title and swatted 36 home runs with a league-leading 54 doubles. It was the same season that Jeter won the AL Rookie of the Year award, en route to a World Series title. One year later, Garciaparra won Rookie of the Year, and by the time all three were in their mid-20s, they were all perennial All-Stars regularly finishing in the top 10 in the MVP voting.
There hasn’t been such young, potent shortstop trio since then, but the Volpe/Witt/Henderson trifecta is offering a blast from the past, while providing excitement for what’s to come.
With Jeter and Garciaparra, there was the rivalry aspect that heightened the shared position excitement even more. Volpe and Henderson certainly could help reignite that feel in the AL East, as the Yankees and Orioles seem destined to battle for the division crown this year, and seem to be the top two contenders to win the pennant in the American League.
Meanwhile, Witt is looking like an MVP candidate that could be battling with Volpe’s teammates in Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for the award come September. He also as his upstart Royals firmly in a Wild Card spot, leaving the door open for any of these stars to clash come October, much like Jeter and Garciaparra in the 1999 ALCS, or Jeter and Rodriguez in the ALCS a year later.
The battles between those star shortstops in October gets lost in the shadow of the Yankee dynasty that Jeter was helping construct. The Bombers disposed of Boston easily in 1999, but Garciaparra hit .400 that series with two home runs, and two games logging at least three hits. Rodriguez hit .421 with a home run in the 2000 ALCS against the Yanks. Meanwhile, Jeter logged at least a hit in the ’99 ALCS and hit .350, before hitting .318 with a pair of home runs a year later against Rodriguez. All three stars were on top of their game with the lights shining the brightest. Could this new trio of studs replicate that kind of excitement confined to one of the most prominent positions on the field?
It’s a high, high bar to clear. Jeter, Rodriguez, and Garciaparra changed the game in making shortstop so much more than a defensive position. Now this new group, which grew up idolizing those stars, is trying to make their own changes. Volpe has worked due ditch his uppercut swing that many sluggers have adopted in the modern game to make the leap that he has in his sophomore season. Witt is a legitimate 30/30 candidate with his mix of speed and power, while still being one of the best defensive shortstops in the game. Henderson is currently battling Judge for the home run crown, but his bat flip that captivates fans the most is the one he breaks out when he draws a walk.
These guys are not just phenomenal talents. They make the game look cool, like the previous generation of star shortstops before them.
There needs to be some more juice between the three to reach the levels of Jeter/Rodriguez/Garciaparra. Jeter and A-Rod were best friends during that era (not anymore of course). Jeter playfully mocked Garciaparra’s toe-tapping ritual in the batter’s box at Fenway Park during the 1999 All-Star Game. With time, perhaps this group will forge their own relationships to add even more intrigue to their collective greatness.
Luckily, there is still plenty of time for those relationships, and their individual greatness, to blossom. But even as we sit here today, the Volpe/Witt/Henderson trio is bringing a level excitement to the shortstop position that hasn’t been felt by an exclusive group in nearly two decades.