As much as the Yankees have raved about Anthony Volpe’s physical ability since they drafted him in the first round out of high school in 2019, they’ve been just as impressed with his baseball IQ.

That combination of athleticism and intelligence was on display on the final play of a 5-4 win over the Royals on Friday night in The Bronx.

With the tying run on second base and two out in the top of the ninth, Volpe ranged to his right to make a nice stop of a Bobby Witt Jr. grounder.

What looked like an infield hit for the speedy Witt, which would have put runners on the corners against Clay Holmes, instead turned into a game-ending play.

Volpe scrambled and threw to third, where DJ LeMahieu was running toward the base.

LeMahieu caught Volpe’s throw and tagged a sliding Drew Waters just before he got to the bag.

Third base umpire Jordan Baker initially called Waters safe, but the normally stoic LeMahieu made it clear he thought he tagged him.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone requested a crew chief review of the play — since it was after the start of the eighth inning — and the call was quickly overturned.

“That was a heads-up play,’’ Boone said. “With Witt running, you’re not throwing him out at first, [so to have] the wherewithal [to throw to third] and DJ also getting in position to make that play, it was a big-time play.”

The result of the play even surprised Volpe., who knew he had little chance of getting Witt at first.

Volpe noted that Witt had beaten out a “tailor-made double play” in his previous at-bat.

Even on the throw to third, Volpe said, “I knew I had to be quick, so I just reacted.”

And while LeMahieu clearly believed he made the tag in time, Volpe wasn’t so sure.

“I thought he was safe,’’ Volpe said. “[The umpire] had a pretty good view [and] I didn’t know if we could challenge since we had just challenged before. I was surprised and happy when they put it on the board.”

Volpe said it’s the kind of play that is practiced, although “not really sliding and throwing, but DJ was right there. It was just one of those plays.”

It bailed out the Yankees and Holmes, who was hit hard in the ninth.

It was just one of several solid plays made by the Yankees up the middle, with Oswald Peraza filling in for Gleyber Torres at second base.

Peraza robbed Witt of a run-scoring single in the fourth and nearly ended the game a play before Volpe did when he grabbed a liner from Maikel Garcia and just missed beating Waters back to second for a double play.

“It turned out to be the difference there in the end,” Boone said of the defense.

And it prevented a potentially tense finish for the last-place Yankees who staggered home from the West Coast having lost four straight and six of seven.

“We just need to play better baseball,’’ Volpe said.