PORT ST. LUCIE — Before the Yankees could dream of rolling out lineups featuring Anthony Volpe and Spencer Jones, that was Vanderbilt’s vision.
The two potential pillars of the Yankees’ future core had both signed to play for Tim Corbin as part of Vanderbilt’s 2019 recruiting class, and Corbin thought he could get both players to campus.
That was until, of course, the Yankees intervened and drafted Volpe with their first-round pick that June, using the hometown hook to lure him to sign and never get to Nashville.
“Sometimes when you fish in that pond, you gotta throw fish back,” Corbin said Monday by phone. “But that one hurt.”
Three years later, the Yankees dipped back into that recruiting class and used their first-round pick on Jones after the two-way-player-turned-outfielder had taken off in his junior season at Vanderbilt.
There is a reason why the Yankees keep on tapping into the Vanderbilt pipeline (and they did it again last summer, drafting George Lombard Jr. before he could get to campus).
They have a type that aligns with the kind of player Corbin wants at Vanderbilt, one whose makeup is every bit as strong as his tools.
So it’s not much of a surprise that Corbin’s description of Jones sounded like something that would also apply to Volpe, and vice versa.
“[Jones] is a very kind kid, he’s very empathetic, but yet at the same time, he’s got a very good, competitive spirit inside,” Corbin said. “It’s not a rah-rah type kid, but he’s very entrenched in the game. I think he’s going to play for a long time.”
As for Volpe, Corbin had gotten to know him well through the recruiting process and saw what the Yankees saw: a mature teenager who was all about baseball (and academics), a difference-maker on the field with an “ever-ready battery type personality.”
The longtime Vanderbilt head coach pinpointed the makeup that helped convince the Yankees last season to make Volpe their starting shortstop and keep him in the job through good times and bad.
“We really loved the kid,” Corbin said. “I thought he was a championship kid. I thought he was the type of kid that gets inside your program and takes your team [to the next level] — because of his personality, his charisma, his way, his energy, his skill.”
Jones had seen those things, too, while playing with and against Volpe across the high school showcase circuit.
They were teammates somewhere along the way but Jones, who doubled as a left-handed pitcher in high school, also had to face his future teammate in the Area Code Games — Volpe playing for the Yankees and Jones for the Brewers in his native California.
“I don’t think it went well for me,” Jones said with a grin before hitting a double in the Yankees’ 5-4 loss to the Mets at Clover Park. “He was one of the top shortstops in the class. He’s always been a tough at-bat, still is. I’m just glad he’s on my team now as opposed to on the other side.”
Volpe said he did not remember how he fared against Jones.
“Still an incredible player, incredibly physical,” Volpe said. “It’s just been fun to get to play with him again.”
Before the Yankees came calling, Volpe and Jones had gotten to know each other well.
They took their official visit to Vanderbilt together with a recruiting class that also featured Volpe’s good friend and high school teammate Jack Leiter.
The weekend included attending a basketball game, a magic show, go-karting and taking a tour of Nashville.
Initially, Corbin had thought the 6-foot-6 Jones might be more of a risk to be drafted and sign out of high school than Volpe.
But Jones fractured his arm while pitching in his senior year, which helped ensure he would land at Vanderbilt after being picked in the 31st round, while the Yankees pulled at Volpe’s heartstrings and signed him as the 30th-overall pick.
Had Volpe gone to Vanderbilt, the Yankees may have never had a chance to draft him again because of their tendency pick late in the first round.
“Corbin knows how to recruit players from all over the country that have similar qualities of wanting to be a good teammate and wanting to win,” Jones said. “We wanted Volpe on campus, but obviously what happened happened. Completely understandable. I think it worked out well for both sides.”
Jones and the Commodores made it to the College World Series finals in 2021, coming up one win short of a national title. In an alternate universe, Volpe might have been in the lineup to help lift them over the top.
In this universe — at least in the near future, potentially by the end of this season if not 2025 — the Yankees are banking on Volpe and Jones being staples of their lineup to help them chase a World Series.
“It’s exciting, definitely,” Volpe said. “Especially with what we’ve all seen so far.”
They are both still just 22, soon to be 23, in important positions up the middle — Volpe already a Gold Glove shortstop in line to take an important step this season and Jones flashing his tantalizing potential as a center fielder with power and speed this spring in big-league camp.
Aaron Boone said Tuesday, before Jones was reassigned to minor league camp, that he was “just scratching the surface of his baseball career.”
“I thought they would both play in the big leagues,” Corbin said. “I didn’t know how quickly Anthony would — Anthony probably got there quicker than I thought, but at the same time, he’s very skilled. Spencer, yeah, I thought Spencer would get to the big leagues. Now whether he does this year or not, I don’t know. But he’s plenty talented.
“I think he’s gonna really help that organization. When the Yankees got him, and I remember my wife telling [amateur scouting director] Damon Oppenheimer this too, it’s like, that’s a fit. When they were talking about him, I said, ‘Of course. That makes sense. He’s a Yankee. He looks like a Yankee.’ ”