LOOK OUT SOX!
Gleyber’s arrival adds some serious punch to Yank-Red Sox battle
THE YANKEES and Red Sox haven’t met in a series with the two best records in baseball since June 2, 2002, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. But that will change on Tuesday night, when the hated rivals open up a highly-anticipated three-game set in The Bronx.
Perhaps the biggest storyline going in is whether 21-year-old star-in-themaking Gleyber Torres can impact the rivalry the same way Rafael Devers did last season. Devers made his MLB debut at age 20, and wound up hitting .306 with three homers in 10 games against the Yankees in 2017 his most memorable moment coming when he drilled a 102.8 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman over the wall.
The August 13 blast — on the fastest pitch hit for a homer since MLB began tracking the stat in 2008 — tied the game in the ninth before the Sox won it in extras.
Now, it’s Torres’ turn to show what he can do against Red Sox pitching.
So far, the 21-year-old has easily exceeded the hype, smacking a game-tying, two-run single on Thursday in Houston and belting a walk-off, three-run homer on Sunday at the Stadium. Torres has hit .290 with two strikes and .556 in late-and-close situations, while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at second.
“He doesn’t seem to be somebody that gets fazed,” Brian Cashman said of Torres. “I just think he approaches everyday the same way, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. And thankfully there’s nothing to be upset about because he’s played his tail off.”
The Yankees left Fenway Park on April 12 with a 6-7 record, looking flat a day after their Brawl in Beantown. Then second baseman Tyler Wade went hitless in four at-bats during the team’s 6-3 loss in the rubber game, his batting average falling to .094.
Eight days later, the 9-9 Bombers were 7.5 games behind the 17-2 Sox in the AL East race. But they’ve won 15 of 16 ever since — and are 14-1 since Torres was promoted from Triple-A Scranton — cutting 6.5 games off Boston’s lead in the process. They’ve outscored the opposition 9837 over the 16-game stretch, while pitching to a 2.06 ERA.
The Yankees will avoid Chris Sale this week, while lining up their top three starters for the series: Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia. Mookie Betts is also dealing with a right shoulder contusion. And only time will tell whether Boston catcher Christian Vazquez is right on his prediction that the Bombers will retaliate for Joe Kelly drilling Tyler Austin, with Austin charging the mound and both being suspended by MLB as a result.
“We’re getting contributions from all over the roster,” Cashman said. “That’s the only way it could be when you rip off 15 of 16.”
Still, Torres has been at the center of it all.
The Bombers had the young Venezulan as their No. 1 overall international prospect in 2013, but the Cubs grabbed him by dangling a $1.7 million signing bonus.
Three years later, though, the Yankees finally got their man in a blockbuster trade with Chicago that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs at the deadline.
“It wasn’t a slam dunk,” Cashman said, recalling ownership’s reluctance toward waiving the white flag on the 2016 campaign.
But the Steinbrenner family ultimately gave its approval, allowing the GM to begin fixing what was broken. “I still remember calling (international scouting director) Donny Rowland to this day and saying, ‘We got him. We got him,’” Cashman said. “We had to wait a little longer and most of the time you never get a second chance, but we did and we jumped on it.” Now, Torres is here and making it happen, his introduction to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry about to begin. Let’s see if he can impact it the same way Devers did in 2017.