Torres is putting up season for the rooks
SEATTLE — Mike Trout, for sure. Babe Ruth, sort of. Shoeless Joe Jackson, perhaps. Extensive imaginary research by The Post (I just went through some of the most obvious guys) reflects how few rookie players soared to great heights and just stayed there. The above trio forms the tiny exception to the rule.
Drilling down to the modern-day Yankees, we saw this phenomenon last year with Aaron Judge, who dominated, faded and dominated once more. And now, to the Yankees’ delight, we’re seeing it with Gleyber Torres.
The rookie infielder blasted a second-inning, two-run homer to left field off Mariners ace James Paxton on Friday night, breaking a scoreless tie and propelling the Yankees to a 4-0 victory at Safeco Field. Andrew McCutchen added his first homer as a Yankee, a two-run shot in the third inning, and Masahiro Tanaka encouraged the most by pitching like an ace, striking out 10 and walking none while allowing only three hits in eight innings.
For Torres, the homer, his 23rd, marked the continuation of a hot streak, which has negated a notable cold streak. Which makes him, in summation, a successful rookie.
“Hitting is not that easy, for sure. We face the best pitchers of the world,” Torres said late Friday night. “I’m just trying to be focused right now. Some days it’s really good, some days [it’s] bad. Stay humble and try to do my job. If I don’t hit, I try to be really good on defense.”
Funny he should mention defense, as we learned during Didi Gregorius’ stay on the disabled list that Torres is best off staying at second base. Yet as he made 13 starts at shortstop in Gregorius’ absence, the 21-year-old also rediscovered his bat.
When Torres went on the disabled list with a right hip strain in early July, he had put up a terrific .294/.350/.555 slash line in his first 63 big-league contests, earning a ticket to the AllStar Game in the process. Then, in his first 19 games after being activated in late July, he hit a lousy .145/.250/.290. He drew 10 walks and 22 strikeouts in 80 plate appearances.
“After the DL, I think I tried to do too much,” Torres said. “Everybody threw me everything and I swung at everything. Now I’m just being relaxed a little bit and taking the game a little more slowly and enjoying it.”
In his past 21 games, entering Saturday night’s tilt with the Mariners, Torres had looked even better than his initial burst out of the gate, tallying a .351/.435/.568 with five homers in 74 at-bats. He earned American League Player of the Week honors for the week of Aug. 27 to Sept. 2 and advanced his case to win the intense race with the Yankees’ Miguel Andujar and Angels dynamo Shohei Ohtani for AL Rookie of the Year.
It’s really been good to see him the last couple, few weeks now,” Aaron Boone said of Torres. “After going through a little bump there where he was struggling at the plate, he’s found it. He’s having good at-bats.”
Consequently, he’s having more conversations about Yankees history. His homer Friday marked his 100th hit, making him, at 21 years and 268 days, the fourth-youngest Yankee ever to reach that milestone. He falls behind only Mickey Mantle (20 years and 193 days), Ben Chapman (21 and 207) and Joe DiMaggio (21 and 230).
“I feel really good for that. I’m proud,” Torres said. “I just stay focused every day and try to do my job.”
He is doing it quite well, again. While plenty more tests will come his way, Torres has passed what very well might prove to be his toughest initiation.