Can Gleyber do it? That is ‘D’ question
Pair of plays in Yankee opener raise concerns
With one swing of his bat on Opening Day, Gary Sanchez seemed to wipe away — at least for a day — the concerns about his horrible 2020 season. With two bobbles in the field on Thursday, Gleyber Torres propped open the door for more worry about him at shortstop.
Torres was not dinged with an error on Opening Day, but two plays let the doubts about his ability to be the Yankees shortstop of the future linger.
The first cost the Yankees a run and would probably be overlooked if Torres’ history at shortstop had been stronger. Teoscar Hernandez’s hard grounder took a hop as Torres was trying to make a sliding grab. The ball skipped under his glove and leg and into left field for a single. That was the first of three straight singles off Gerrit Cole that led to a run.
“The base hit in the hole, that’s a kind of a do-or-die play,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Boone admitted the second play, however, was a mistake by Torres. Hernandez hit a chopper to shortstop. Torres made the stop by double pumped before throwing a one-hopper to first base. Jay Bruce stretched to pick it, but the Blue Jays right fielder is fast and legged out a single on the play
“Just not aggressive enough,” Boone said. “I thought he laid back on the ball a little bit and then probably with Hernandez getting down the line (Torres) needed to take a little bit better angle and (have) a little more urgency to get that.”
Torres had nine errors at shortstop in the regular season, tied for the second most at that position in the majors, and two in the playoffs. He posted a -9 defensive runs saved and a -4 outs above average. He was in the bottom two percentile in outs above average, according to Baseball Savant.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman said this winter that Torres was not in good shape when the Yankees reconvened after the nearly four-month coronavirus pandemic shutdown. He also said that while he thinks Torres can play shortstop, he sees the 24year old as a better second baseman.
With that spot now filled for the next few years by Yankees MVP DJ LeMahieu, Torres came into spring 2021 looking to prove himself. He was in noticeably better shape and he was obviously working on his craft at shortstop. He spent most of the offseason in Tampa working with Yankees bench/infield coach Carlos Mendoza.
It resulted in solid play at short through 18 games in spring training. He made no errors and very few noticeable awkward plays. He credited Mendoza for helping him figure out shortstop this spring.
“I think I am working really hard every day. I am so happy to figure out a few things on my defense,” Torres said. “I mean every practice, every day I’ll be working with Mende for us to fix all the little things. We were working during the offseason. And I feel good, I feel happy. I feel a little more confident right now and just try to play and enjoy the game and try to do my best.”
While he said he cannot control what Cashman said, he clearly came into 2021 with a chip on his shoulder, looking to prove his point.
He wanted to put the questions about him being the Yankees shortstop of the future to rest. With a class of elite shortstops — Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and Corey Seager — due to become free agents this winter, he needs to prove himself this season.
It wasn’t just the defense that bothered the Yankees in 2020.
An All-Star his first two seasons in the big leagues, Torres had a disappointing season at the plate as well. In 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 started to turn things around after returning from the injured list. He hit .259/.377/.466 with two of his three homers in the final 18 regular season games. He went 10-for-23 (.435) in the Yankees’ seven playoff games.
Thursday, Torres’ bat looked fine. He got the first hit of the 2021 season, a single off Hyun Jin Ryu. Ultimately, that bat will balance out his play at shortstop. It was just one game and two small mistakes on Thursday, but Torres opened the door for the doubters to follow him into the 2021 season.