One day we might call it The Dream Team.
Twenty teenagers wore “USA” across their chest at the Under-18 Pan American Games in November 2018. They won the gold medal in Chitre, Panama, going undefeated in nine tournament games, slashing a collective .407/.517/.683, and averaging over 14 runs per game.
Of the 10 position players on the roster, seven of them were chosen in the first round of the next two MLB drafts, including three of the top six picks in 2019: Bobby Witt, Jr. No. 2 overall to Kansas City, Riley Greene No. 5 overall to Detroit, and CJ Abrams No. 6 overall to San Diego.
In a lineup stacked with more talent than some evaluators say they have ever seen for that age group, Anthony Volpe batted third.
Volpe, who turns 21 next month, is, of course, the top-ranked prospect in the Yankees system and one of the Top 10 prospects in all of baseball. He was chosen 30th overall in the 2019 draft, and is potentially the Yankees shortstop of the future.
“Why is Volpe batting third?” Tom McNamara, a veteran scout and special assistant to Royals GM Dayton Moore, asked Team USA Head Coach Jack Leggett before one of the games in Chitre – a town about a three-hour drive from Puerto Caimito, the hometown of Mariano Rivera.
“Mac, he’s the best hitter on the team,” is how McNamara remembers Leggett’s reply.
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Leggett, who was the Head Coach at Clemson University for over 20 years, doesn’t remember phrasing it exactly like that – probably because he doesn’t want to now slight any of the other talented players from his squad. But it’s clear how much he loves Volpe’s game.
“I just remember saying he needs to come up as often as possible,” is how Leggett now recalls it. “There were some other good hitters in that group. I don’t know if he was the best, but he was a person you couldn’t play without.”
So why was he batting third?
“He made good contact, he could execute, and he was clutch,” Leggett says. “He’s a winner in every sense of the word. He can play on my team any day he wants to.”
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Volpe’s 2021 season, where he hit .294 with 35 doubles and 27 home runs across two levels of A-ball, came as no surprise to Leggett.
“It was just a matter of time before he developed his power,” he said.
Of Team USA’s 10 position players, Witt, Abrams, and Volpe were all natural shortstops. Leggett spread out the talent by playing Witt at short, Abrams in center field, and Volpe at second base. But Leggett has no doubts about Volpe’s ability in the middle of the infield.
“He’s really fundamentally sound,” Leggett says. “He has a penchant for making great plays, but he’s going to make the routine play all day long.”
Leggett, a three-time ACC Coach of the Year who led Clemson to the College World Series six times, raves about Volpe’s hitting and fielding. But he absolutely glows when talking about the young man Volpe is, the person and the teammate.
“I don’t know if I can say enough good things about him. He’s one of the best people; let’s forget about baseball for a minute, he’s just one of the best people,” Leggett said. “He’s got a smile on his face, he’s got light in his eyes, he can’t wait to practice, he can’t wait to please you, can’t wait to compete. His engine is running hard all the time. He’s never going to dog it down the first base line – he’s just not wired that way. He’s wired to play hard and to practice hard all the time. That’s going to serve him well.”
Leggett is now 68 and has seen his share of high school and collegiate baseball talent. The special ones stand out to him, like the ones he had on the 2018 U-18 team in Panama.
“Anthony Volpe and Bobby Witt are two of the best infielders I’ve ever seen at that age by far. Those two kids are a cut above anything I’ve seen at that age. Just fundamentally, athletically, ability to improvise – which is (like) Michael Jordan or Patrick Mahomes,” Leggett said. “They had the ability to be fundamentally sound, but if something goes wrong, if something is different, or if something is off (they) can make an adjustment. And that’s the type of baseball players they are. They can make adjustments and improvise and be creative and make plays that other kids couldn’t at that age, in my opinion.”
Volpe will start the 2022 season at Double-A Somerset. Count Leggett among those who think Volpe is on his way to higher places sooner rather than later.
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