In the last game against the Phillies, Gleyber Torres came back from a very bad count to beat pitcher Aaron Nola, who had beaten him before. Maybe Torres is the kind of player who does best when a little pressure is put on him and he doesn’t feel too safe.
While Gleyber Torres entertaining fans with production at Yankee Stadium, it has been speculated around he is not only off to a strong start this season but also playing with a goal in his mind because of his oblique exclusion from the team’s long-term plans. Gleyber Torres kept up his hot start by getting three hits, two of which were RBI singles that helped the Yankees win their fourth game in a row. Torres also stole two of the three bases that New York did.
Gleyber Torres is the Yankees’ best gift so far
Asked on Wednesday afternoon if he was playing with an “I’ll show them I belong here” edge, Torres said, “No, not really.”
Gleyber Torres has been in the red hot form for the Yankees and at his best in the first week considering how well he had played. Cole said of the second baseman, “He does a little bit of everything.”
Gleyber Torres has been the Yankees’ best player through the first six games of the season. He has hit .421, has a 1.349 OPS, and has hit two home runs. He stole 10 bases last year. He has stolen five bases since Opening Day, taking full advantage of the new rules and bigger bases.
He has spent the first week of the season reminding the league that Gleyber Torres is an All-Star player and that the Yankees would have been wrong to trade him before the season to make room for prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza.
“He looks really good to me,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “Really, he looked good all spring training (the Phillies and Yankees play often because of the proximity between Clearwater and Tampa).”
Torress proves predictions wrong
Gleyber Torres was a big reason why the Yankees got off to a good start despite all their injuries, unlike the NL champion Phillies, who are now 1-5. He is either tied for first or leads the Yankees in hits, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, walks, average, on-base percentage, and OPS. Even though it was only one week, it showed again how talented Torres is and can be.
There were doubts that Gleyber Torres would even make the Yankees’ spring training roster, let alone finish it. He followed two subpar seasons with a solid but not spectacular 2022. The Yankees considered trading him at the trade deadline last season and again this winter because they appeared to be oversaturated in infield options.
Gleyber Torres decided to play Winter Ball in his home country of Venezuela with one goal in mind: “Don’t strike out so much.” Torres struck out in 22.6 percent of his plate appearances in 2022, the most since he was a rookie while walking a career-low 6.8 percent of the time. So far, he has six walks and two strikeouts, prompting Aaron Boone to say, “Every at-bat has been super-competitive.”
This was shown on Wednesday when his presence in the lineup was a surprise. Stanton went 5-for-16 against Nola and hit two home runs, while Gleyber Torres didn’t get a hit in nine at-bats and struck out six times. But since Stanton was playing right field Tuesday night and a day game was scheduled for Wednesday, Boone wanted to give his power hitter a full day off.
Boone also said, “[Torres] is in a good place, and he’s as good as anyone with a chance against a good pitcher.”
The return of Gleyber Torres
Gleyber Torres fell behind Nola 0-2, took a questionable pitch on which Aaron Judge stole, took another borderline pitch to make it 2-2, barely remained alive with an emergency hack for a foul ball, and then shattered his bat and deposited an RBI single to left.
After striking out in the fourth, Gleyber Torres came up again with two outs and LeMahieu on second. He was trailing Nola 0-2 when he swung and missed at two pitches. But he hit the next one with an RBI single to center. Gleyber Torres led off the eighth with a double, bringing his batting average to .421. He then stole a fifth base, which is the most in the MLB.
Boone talked about how Gleyber Torres is getting better at stealing bases. But his whole game seems to be getting better. The 26-year-old says it has nothing to do with wanting to prove himself by getting traded, which was a rumor that kept going around until Opening Day.
“I just want to be here a long time,” Torres said. “I feel home right here.”
Torres is better than rookies
Anthony Volpe showed in spring training why he is an exciting prospect, but in the first week of the season, he is only 2-for-17 (.176). Even though that’s a small sample size and doesn’t say anything about Volpe’s future, it’s also true that a team that wants to win the championship can’t depend too much on rookies who need time to get used to the league—ideally, not even for a week or two. They should win games.
For now, the Yankees can take care of Volpe. But the idea that the team can get rid of Gleyber Torres to save money and make room on the roster puts too much weight on unproven players and takes away too much of Torres’ offense.
When watching Gleyber Torres play over the years, it’s easy to get distracted by the flaws in his game. It is a fact that he sometimes doesn’t pay attention to details and unfair expectations come with being a hyped-up prospect. It’s easy to think of what Gleyber Torres is not.
But here’s what he is. Gleyber Torres is 26, an All-Star twice, and has hit more than 20 home runs in three seasons. This week, a player hit his 100th home run, making him the seventh-youngest player in the Yankees history to do so.
Yankees can’t afford to lose Torres
Gleyber Torres is also a bat in the middle of the order that the Yankees of 2023 can’t lose.
“I feel really comfortable every at-bat,” Torres said. “I feel like I’ve got really good patience at the plate right now.”
After a slow drift in which Gleyber Torres seemed to lose his place as a key member of the team, the team is now more focused. When Torres showed up in Tampa in February, he was asked if the Yankees had talked to him about extending his contract.
“I wish,” he lamented.
A little more than a year ago, when Gleyber Torres was 25 years old, Hal Steinbrenner said that Volpe and Peraza would be the middle infielders of the future. DJ LeMahieu opened the 2022 season at second base while Torres sat on the bench. But for Boone, his coaching staff, and the front office, who saw Gleyber Torres come back out of shape for the 2020 season, which was cut short by the flu, right after he was named the next Yankee shortstop, maybe it was time to try something different.
Before the Yankees play their next game, the infield could look different again. Josh Donaldson hurt his hamstring on Wednesday and the Yankees may need to get back pitcher Jhony Brito from Triple-A to start this weekend in Baltimore. Or they could think about Peraza, who is the only other infielder on the 40-man roster. When Peraza comes to the team, Aaron Boone and his staff will have to talk about whether or not to move Volpe off shortstop to make room for Peraza, who is a slightly better defender at that position.
At least for the near future, one thing is clear: Gleyber Torres will not be taken out of the equation as long as he plays the way he does.
“Hopefully,” Boone said, “We’re seeing a guy who is really starting to enter the prime of his career as a young man.”
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