Volpe's spring number a blast from the past

Whenever the Yankees give a player the number of an all-time great, something special has to be on the horizon.

After an incredible 2021 Minor League season, Yankees top prospect Anthony Volpe received an invite to big league camp prior to 2021. The 20-year-old shortstop, who is the eighth-best prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, was assigned the number 70 for Spring Training.

While it may not seem like a significant number in Yankee lore -- with 21 retired numbers in Monument Park, they have a ton -- it actually belonged to another bright-eyed 20-year-old back in 1995: Derek Jeter.

While it may be jarring to see anything other than No. 2 on Jeter’s back, he did in fact wear 70 in Spring Training back before he was “The Captain.” It’s probably a good thing that he didn’t stick with it, mainly for aesthetics reasons.

Jeter made his MLB debut later that year and, as they say, the rest is history. Volpe has already impressed one game into the spring slate, making a couple nice plays at short during the Yankees’ opener.

Is the jersey assignment an omen of what's to come for Volpe? Or is it pure coincidence? Either way, it seems like the Jeter comparisons won't go away any time soon.