Torres rejoins lineup
Shortstop has lots to prove
NEW YORK — Gleyber Torres was back in the lineup Friday night for the first time since Aug. 8. The big question is which version of the shortstop will show up down the stretch for the Yankees: The 24-year old who was starting to heat up when he injured his thumb sliding into second base on Aug. 8, or the one who has struggled for most of the last two seasons.
“I know he’s been feeling and chomping at the bit for the better part of a week to get back in,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Friday night’s series opener against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium. “Obviously, he was able to get a few rehab games in, which is good. But he’s excited, ready to go and…. I thought he was playing really well before he
got hurt, so hopefully he can pick up where he left off.”
In his last eight games before being injured, Torres was hitting .393/.387/.563 with four doubles and five RBI. That was a definite improvement from Torres’ start to the season and a disastrous 2020, which had many wondering if he
can be the Yankees shortstop of the future. With a free agent class flush with shortstops this winter, including Carlos Correa and Trevor Story, Torres has this prime stretch of the final month of the regular season and the playoffs to prove he’s the guy they want to go forward with.
Boone thinks he is a player who will rise to the challenge the Yankees face, chasing the Rays in the final 29 games of the regular season.
“I think Gleyber has shown that the more that’s on the line, usually, he’s been a little bit better of a player,” Boone said. “We’re at, obviously, a critical time in the season, entering the final month of games here of the regular season. And I know he’s really eager to get back and contribute. And I know he’s excited about what’s been going on with our team of late. And I felt like he was playing some of his best baseball in those couple weeks leading up to him going on the IL.”
There is a lot on the line for the young shortstop as well.
Torres has still shown a shocking lack of power that had been a red flag in 2020. In the first 77 games of the season, he was slugging just .308 with three home runs.
An All-star his first two seasons in the big leagues, who hit 38 homers with an .871 OPS in 2019, Torres had an all-around disappointing 2020. He hit .243/.356/.368, career lows in batting average and slugging percentage.
While his strikeout percentage was down for the third straight year, a good sign, his production was down sharply from 2019. He hit three home runs in 136 at-bats and his OPS dropped to .724.
Torres struggled after the 2020 spring training was shut down by the coronavirus pandemic. Though he worked out at the Tampa facility, when the season restarted in July the Yankees thought he showed up for training camp out of shape. He missed 18 games of the COVID-19 abbreviated, 60-game 2020 season with a leg injury.
During this past offseason, GM Brian Cashman said that Torres was a better second baseman than shortstop, only adding to the questions about his future.
Boone, however, has always backed Torres.
“I just think he’s a really good player and he’s had some ups and downs this year,” Boone said. “I think eventually he was gonna find a stretch where he’s playing really good baseball, I felt like he was doing that, really in the weeks ahead of going on the IL, but I think it’s a result of a good player just kind of grinding through a season and finding his way.”
In Torres’ 22-game absence, the Yankees found a very reliable back-up and a local who won the hearts of the fans in Andrew Velazquez. In 22 games, the Bronx native is hitting a respectable .228/.241/.386 with a home run and six RBI.