Anthony Volpe reminds Aaron Judge of his younger self

“Nothing really changes. Now the real work starts. I’m about trying to keep it.”

Who said it?

It certainly sounds as if it could be Anthony Volpe, the 21-year-old rookie who ran away with the Yankees' spring training competition for the job of starting shortstop.

Volpe already has shown an ability to be unimpressed with himself, always projecting a just-happy-to-be-wearing-the-pinstripes-and-just-want-to-help-the-team vibe during interviews. And the rookie has made that sort of comment since the Yankees anointed him the shortstop last Sunday in Tampa.

But no, the above quote actually was delivered by Aaron Judge.

It was March 30, 2017, and Judge, then a rookie, had been told a few hours earlier by then-manager Joe Girardi that he had beaten out Aaron Hicks for the starting job in right.

“To be honest, you’ve seen the guys we have in our minor-league system,” Judge said that late March day in Clearwater, Florida, where the Yankees had just played the Phillies. “Now I have to really stay on top of my game, which is preparing the right way and playing hard and competing . . . Now it starts for real.”

Judge went 1-for-3 the afternoon after finding out he’d won the job and ended that spring training hitting .333 with three homers and a .931 OPS.

Volpe was back in the lineup Monday afternoon against Tampa Bay after finding out he’d be the starting shortstop, going 0-for-2 but with a walk and playing another solid game defensively. He started Tuesday as well, in the exhibition season finale in Washington, going 1-for-2 — which allowed him to finish spring training hitting .309 with three homers and a 1.033 OPS — and turning in two highlight plays defensively.

After Volpe’s big-league debut Thursday, in which he went 0-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base, it was clear that Judge already had taken the rookie under his wing.

Judge, going back to even his AL Rookie of the Year season in 2017,  essentially has operated in the clubhouse as a captain, the title that officially was bestowed upon him this  past offseason. But he seems to have taken a particular interest in Volpe, with whom he jokes often.

Much as a veteran named Brett Gardner did with Judge in 2017 (Judge, no doubt, enthusiastically approved Volpe picking Gardner’s jersey No. 11 but doing so only after talking with the longtime Yankee via phone).    

Judge gushed about Volpe in the interview room after Thursday’s game and  did so again outside the home clubhouse, beaming like a proud older brother when some of Volpe’s recent public comments were relayed to him.

“It just shows maturity,” Judge said. “He's a guy that’s got a great support system, a great family. Even talking with his teammates in the minor leagues, man, they just speak so highly of him. The way they look at him, the way they watch him during the game. It was something special [to hear], but it shows you that he's not a normal 21-year-old. This kid's got something special. I don't want to put too much pressure on him by comparing him to certain guys or saying certain things, but I think if he goes out there and he becomes the best Anthony Volpe he can, he's going leave a pretty good mark here with the Yankees.”

Judge made a bigger mark in his debut, homering in the first at-bat of his first game Aug. 13, 2016 against the Rays, then homering the next day, too, and adding two hits, including a double, in game No. 3.

But he wound up with 42 strikeouts in 84 at-bats and a .179 batting average, a number Judge still has in the “notes” app on his phone. It's a reminder of, in the outfielder’s words, “how hard this game is.”

He’s picked up a similar attitude from Volpe.

“I think he's realized that there's still a lot of work to be done and just because, just like me, just because I got rewarded with the starting job [in March 2017] doesn't mean anything,'' Judge said. "Because especially with New York, it can be taken from you in a blink of an eye, so you’ve got to put in the work daily. So I think him being a big Yankee fan and watching a lot of the greats that played here, I think he has that same mentality.”