Anthony Volpe and Francisco Alvarez have had remarkably similar career trajectories.

Born about seven months apart in 2001, they were both signed by their teams to deals worth roughly $2.7 million and played roughly the same number of games in the minors (275 for Volpe and 263 for Alvarez).

They emerged as key contributors in 2023. Volpe won the Yankees starting shortstop job out of spring training and made his MLB debut on Opening Day. Alvarez took over behind the plate for the Mets full-time just over a week into last season.

And each had an up-and-down rookie season: Volpe showed some unexpected power with 21 homers, but too many strikeouts (167, or 27.8 percent of his plate appearances). Alvarez hit 25 home runs of his own, but — like Volpe — whiffed a ton (26 percent strikeout rate) and was inconsistent. Volpe had a terrific August before fading badly in the final month of the regular season. Alvarez had his worst month of last season in August and finished well.

This season, each young player was supposed to take a significant step forward.

Volpe reworked his swing to allow for more contact and a higher on-base percentage. Alvarez was looking to avoid some of the peaks and valleys he went through in 2023.

For a while, it was working. Volpe kept his OPS above .800 into early June, and Alvarez — though he missed substantial time due to a torn ligament in his left thumb — returned to produce at a high level and help spark the Mets’ surge in June and early July.

But Volpe, 23, and Alvarez, who turns 23 in December, have struggled of late. If either team wants to play well into October, they likely need more from these young players.

Volpe has a .587 OPS since June 25. After going 1-for-5 in Wednesday night’s history-making win over the White Sox, Volpe is 2-for-30 with three walks and 13 strikeouts in his past eight games.

Alvarez, who was hitting .296 going into the All-Star break, is down to .259 after going 1-for-3 in Wednesday’s payback win over the A’s, and has just two extra-base hits and a .461 OPS in his past 19 games with 22 strikeouts in 71 plate appearances.

“They’re still good, young players,” said an American League scout who’s seen each of them in the past three weeks. “You’d like to see them adjust faster when they’re in these ruts — and that’s assuming Alvarez is healthy.”

On the bright side, Volpe and Alvarez continue to impress defensively.

Volpe’s advanced metrics are better than they were a year ago, when he was the American League Gold Glove winner at short, and Alvarez has won praise from Mets pitchers and coaches for his work behind the plate.

Today’s back page

Judge hits No. 300

Here’s what you need to know about Yankees superstar Aaron Judge’s milestone home run:

• Judge hit his 300th career home run in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ win over the White Sox off a 3-0 sinker from righty Chad Kuhl, a 361-foot line drive over the left-field fence.

• The 32-year-old Judge reached 300 homers in his 955th career game, making him the fastest in MLB history to do it — by far. Ralph Kiner, the previous standard, needed 1,083 games to hit No. 300, which he did in 1953.

• After facing a spate of intentional walks in recent weeks, curtailing his opportunities, Judge’s milestone home run came after the White Sox intentionally walked Juan Soto with first base open to bring up Judge.

• Judge is now hitting .333 with 43 home runs (on pace for 57), 110 RBIs, a .467 on-base percentage and .707 slugging percentage. He leads baseball in all of those categories except batting average, in which he ranks second.

• Judge said: “It’s a great achievement. I’ve been in the game a little while now I guess — we still got a long way to go — but like I said a couple days ago, I was hoping it’d come in a win. … So I was just excited it was in a big moment.”

And the winner is…

After Michael King went to the Padres in the blockbuster trade that brought Juan Soto to the Yankees, the right-hander said San Diego “won” the deal because of the haul the Yankees gave up for one year of Soto.

On Tuesday night, neither team was complaining about the December deal. Soto had his first three-homer game in the Yankees’ road win over the White Sox, and King threw a gem against the Pirates.

Soto is on pace for arguably the best season of his already brilliant career, hitting .307/.438/.615 with 87 RBIs, 102 walks (against just 82 strikeouts) and 7.5 bWAR. Soto launched his 34th home run Wednesday, putting him one off his career high.

The 29-year-old King has developed into a solid starting pitcher for the wild-card-leading Padres (69-53). He’s thrown a career-high 135 ⅓ innings and lowered his ERA to 3.19 with six scoreless innings Tuesday.

The Yankees parted with four other players in exchange for Soto and Trent Grisham. Kyle Higashioka has hit a career-high 14 homers in 57 games, and right-handers Jhony Brito and Randy Vasquez have provided depth in San Diego’s pitching staff.

And the Padres used Drew Thorpe, a Yankees pitching prospect at the time of the trade, as part of the package that landed them Dylan Cease from the White Sox prior to Opening Day. Cease has pitched well at the top of their rotation.

What’s working in the Yankees’ favor in terms of the long-term impact of the trade is how well Soto has fit in and performed in The Bronx. There will be no mystery about whether he can perform under the bright lights.

That may cost the Yankees more in the long run, but will be especially valuable when Soto hits free agency following this season.

Maize and blues

J.J. McCarthy played at Michigan, was drafted by the Vikings and hasn’t taken a snap in the NFL — and now won’t until 2025 after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

But the former national champion has had quite an impact on the New York football scene.

First, he interviewed with the Giants during the draft process, and many believed the team would select McCarthy with the No. 6 overall pick as a potential replacement for Daniel Jones. Instead, the Giants with LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers — who is the talk of training camp — and McCarthy went three picks later to the Vikings.

Now that McCarthy is out for the year, ex-Jet Sam Darnold gets another shot at leading a team.

Darnold was a huge disappointment after being selected at No. 3 by the Jets out of USC in 2018. He’s since had stops with the Panthers and 49ers and is now QB1 in Minnesota.

He’s set to make his first start as a Viking, fittingly, at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 8 against the Giants.

What we’re reading 👀

🏈 The Post’s Ryan Dunleavy profiles Giants undrafted rookie defensive lineman Elijah Chatman, overlooked by scouts but now in line to secure a roster spot. In possibly related news, the Giants traded DT Jordan Phillips to the Cowboys, of all teams.

🏈 Nathaniel Hackett, you’re up. Aaron Rodgers is back to lead the Jets offense and eliminate the alibis, and Hackett needs a big 2024 season to silence the coordinator’s eager critics.

⚾ Jazz Chisholm Jr. went on the IL amid a series of Yankees roster moves, but the prognosis still isn’t clear.

⚾ Staten Island’s South Shore Little League plays their World Series opener Thursday afternoon in Williamsport.

🏈 The Patriots traded disgruntled edge rusher Matthew Judon to the Falcons. Haason Reddick implications?

🏁 This NASCAR controversy ended in a driver’s ban from the playoffs.

⚽ A Spanish soccer phenom’s father was hospitalized after being stabbed.

♟ Like Tonya Harding, but with mercury poisoning in Russian chess.