Ex-MLB player torches Yankees’ Anthony Volpe decision: ‘It’s organizational failure’

The injury was real. The decision to let him keep playing was, too — and that’s the part that won’t show up on any stat sheet.

On a recent social media post, former MLB utility player Xavier Scruggs didn’t mince words when breaking down what the Anthony Volpe situation reveals about how organizations handle their most promising young talent.

“Playing through a partial labrum tear in your non-throwing shoulder isn’t toughness, it’s organizational failure,” Scruggs said in an X/Twitter clip.

When a 22-year-old is suiting up night after night with a torn labrum, Scruggs believes somebody in that organization made a decision — and that decision wasn’t made for Anthony Volpe. It was made for the New York Yankees.

The mechanics of what a labrum injury does to a hitter are well-documented. Shoulder instability affects swing path, load timing, and the ability to drive the ball with any consistency.

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So when Volpe’s offensive numbers looked shaky during that stretch, the conversation in media circles turned to his development arc, his approach, his readiness. The conversation rarely asked whether he was simply playing hurt — and whether someone should have sat him down.

Then came the surgery and the rehab assignment. And then, as Scruggs noted, came the silence.