There was a lot going on in Anthony Volpe’s 2026 season.

From beginning the year recovering from offseason shoulder surgery to two demotions to Triple-A to watching the Yankees make George Lombard Jr. the new shortstop of the present and future.

Volpe started learning new spots on the diamond. He played some second base and even showed up at third. In the postseason, he started twice over Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second and nearly had the most impactful Yankee hit -- his Game 3 fan-interference RBI double that was oh-so-close to being a tying home run might’ve changed the ALDS against the Rays.

Where does Volpe go from here? The Yanks clearly still consider him valuable – throwaways don’t get October starts – and they’ll likely have an opening at second base he could fill.

So should Volpe, superseded at short by Lombard, stay or go? Here’s a look:

WHY IT WOULD MAKE SENSE TO KEEP VOLPE

Volpe, who doesn’t even turn 26 until April, isn’t a free agent until 2029, so he remains under team control after making $3.475 million this year. He could be an easy answer for the Yankees at second base in 2027 since Chisholm is a free agent.

He’s had one 20-homer, 20-steal season in his career and holds that potential. In the wake of a demotion that had to sting, Volpe put up a .906 OPS in 37 games at Triple-A, hit 11 home runs and returned to have some impact.

While it’s clear some Yankees fans have Volpe fatigue, it was also apparent that the way he processed his weird season impressed in Yankeeland. He was cheered during the playoffs, where he was 3-for-7 and one of the best offensive performers in pinstripes.

And the clubhouse was clearly watching his reaction to being demoted. He got serious praise from Aaron Judge following the Yanks’ elimination: “To handle that type of adversity, not only from the game, not playing your best, and then hearing it from fans, hearing from everybody and then for him to go down to Triple-A, work on what he needed to and then come up here with a bang like he did, it just speaks volumes to his character.”

Judge also said: “If we were going to go win a World Series, we needed Anthony Volpe on the team.”

Might be worth hanging on to a guy who feels this deeply, too: “It’s been four too many times having this taste in your mouth,” Volpe said after the disappointment of Game 3. “And, at this point, I don’t even think ‘motivated’ is the right word because I think it’s just ‘(ticked) off’ and that’s how I feel. Just channeling that in the right way.

“You want to have the parade. You want to do all this stuff that you grind, and you work so hard for and when you don’t come through and you put every single thing you possibly feel like you can into it and then come up short, you obviously got to do a lot of soul searching.”

WHY IT WOULD MAKE SENSE TO LET VOLPE GO

The former first-round pick has not lived up to the outsized hype that accompanied his arrival in the big leagues, even though it was unfair to think he – or anyone – was going to be Derek Jeter, the sequel.

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